The Black Rose
by Shenandoah76209
Summary: A half elf begins a new life in a beautiful city but that life is complicated immeasurably by someone who won't take no for an answer and refuses to let her ignore her heart.
1. Chapter 1

**The Black Rose**

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><p><em>Author's Note: So this is one of the first stories I wrote that went over a certain word count. It was also something I had trouble with so there are three fairly distinct parts. This story also introduces characters that my husband and I gave a lot of thought. I'll be interested to hear what everyone thinks as it is one of my earliest stories and my writing style has improved a lot since I wrote this. College classes will do that apparently. But because it partially sets up a our world of D&amp;D it was very hard to rewrite. All I can say is I hope you all enjoy it and I'll be posting more in this world.<em>

_By the way, this story is set in the same world as my other three D&D stories and you might notice one character makes a reappearance._

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><p>Rosaleen Dhu muttered to herself as she stalked out of the courtyard. That the weaponsmaster was her mother's brother made no difference. That she was tall for her age and quick as a cat mattered not. All that was important to her uncle was her failure to master the broad sword. It was of no moment that she was proficient with her father's long bow, that her skill with a main gauche and rapier was excellent or that she could part his hair with a dagger.<p>

Scowling the tall girl slammed the door to her room and threw herself into a chair. Her gaze fell upon the flute placed carefully on her desk. Her father had left four things with her mother when he'd disappeared so long ago; a flute of cherrywood and silver, a long-bow, a strange pendant and Rosaleen Dhu growing in her mother's belly.

Rosaleen shook her head. It hadn't been so much a disgrace that Merrila was bearing a child or that the child would be a bastard. After all Merrila was a bastard herself, the daughter of the keeps lord and an elven woman whose charms had smitten him for a time.

No the disgrace was that Rosaleen had the bad taste to be born female. Male children born out of wedlock were generally considered useful. Her uncle the weaponsmaster proved that. But a girl born illegitimately couldn't even be wed to a neighbor to strengthen an alliance. Thus her uncles were determined to teach her the fighting arts and make a warrior of her.

The girl shook her head. The bastards of Serendal were a long standing and accepted quirk of the Serendal house. Even the current lords wife was kind enough to her husbands base born siblings. Ljosa was sweet if overly preoccupied with household matters and her husbands comfort. Serek, her husband, found her ways to be very convenient and thus left well enough alone.

Rosaleen picked up the flute and raising it to her lips, coaxed forth a sighing, weeping melody.

Merrila paused outside the door as she heard the music. Sighing she wondered if Vidan Dhu knew of the gift he'd bequeathed his daughter. The elf had loved music and so did his child, and at fifteen, she was as gifted as he had been.

Slowly she opened the door and gazed at her daughter. Rosaleen was tall, almost five foot eight, she'd gotten her height from the men of Merrila's family; not one was under six feet. Slouched in a chair as she was the girl's trim light figure didn't show to advantage. A hooded tunic concealed the long hair, the color of midnight and straight as an arrow. The eyes that were closed in concentration Merrila knew to be so dark a green that they too were black. But nothing could conceal her only child's beauty. Skin tinted by a delicate pink lent warmth to a face the image of Vidan's, though softened by gender.

Rose's dark pink mouth was sweeter than Vidan's and the dimples in her chin and right cheek robbed her face of the cold regal aspect the elf had possessed in repose.

The music stopped as Rosaleen opened her eyes and saw her mother. The girls gaze was affectionate if tinged with humor. "Well has Uncle Mory vowed to send me to a cloistered temple of Ilmater?" She asked, her rage having faded as she played. "Or will he once again force another weapon into my hands?"

Merrila shook her head, her lips spreading in a wry smile in response to her daughters jests. "For now my dear he has simply declared you hopeless and is drowning his sorrows."

Rosaleen shook her head. "He maintains that it is my inherent elven weakness that prevents my mastery of the broad sword."

"Your father would have laughed in his face." Merrila said absently. "As an elf he was shorter than any of your uncles. But he was quicker than all of them. Time and again he proved himself their better, but as he pointed out he'd had centuries of practice and experience."

"What was he like?" Rosaleen asked softly. Her mother rarely spoke of her father.

"Much like you my Briar." Merrila said absently. "Humorous even in the face of what could be his death, deadly in battle, gentle with me and his eyes and heart seeing things I could never understand." She picked up the silver pendant from the desk and gazed at it thoughtfully. "He put this around my neck just before he left. He said she would watch over me while he was gone. He never came back."

"Surely he meant to return?" Rosaleen said with a frown. "He left his flute and bow."

Merrila shook her head. "I don't know. He made another while he was here, twin to his own. He was teaching me archery. He took one of them, the new one I believe, when he left." She smiled her blue eyes warm with the memory. "He was ever kind though on occasion his tongue was as sharp as your rapier. He had a wit as you do, insulted his foes in battle, and made his friends see the humorous side in everything. He made folk think with his words."

"Did he love you?" Rosaleen dared to ask, her voice quiet.

Merrila smiled at her daughter. "We loved each other you could say. It was not in him to simply dally with a lass, unless that was all they both desired. There was affection on his part and fascination on mine for I'd never met anyone like him. Love is perhaps too strong a description for what he felt for me." Her delicate face broke into a smile. "Be assured that had he known of you he would have loved you. Nothing would have prevented him from being part of your life."

Rosaleen sighed and fingered her flute. "Well he doesn't know about me and it's getting a bit tiresome being molded into a tribute to battle." Her forehead wrinkled in a frown and she draped the pendant around her neck.

"Well unless you're taking the road less traveled and remaining in your room it's almost time for dinner." Merrila's tone was dry, for her daughter rarely avoided unpleasantness even when it was easier to do so. It was the reason Merrila had nicknamed her daughter Briar for the girl was a thorny rose indeed.

"Oh I'll come down. I've a mind to show them there's more to life than battle arts." Rosaleen replied with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Merrila uttered a groan and shook her head. This would be an interesting evening to say the least.

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><p>It was Rosaleen's custom to appear at the table in the clothing she'd worn throughout the day. Most often this was the same garb she'd worn to weapon practice and to hunt with her cousin's and uncle.<p>

Merrila had long since resigned herself to her child's appearance for it effectively disguised Rosaleen's beauty and was suitable for the activities she was compelled to pursue. This evening Merrila had to bite her tongue in order to stifle her gasp as Rosaleen entered the hall.

Her daughter had obviously decided it was time to show her family that she was feminine as well as female. Her long black hair was loose and hanging to her hips but for a slim braid that caught it back from her face exposing her tipped ears. The gown she wore was the color of a winter shadow and skimmed over her slim figure. She looked exotic and lovely.

Merrila blinked in astonishment as her normally rushed and careless daughter gracefully seated herself in a slow regal manner. Rosaleen had draped her father's pendant around her neck and carried a small harp. Merrila recognized the instrument as having belonged to her own grandmother.

The reaction of Merrila's brother Mory was comical. The huge man gaped at his niece and nearly fell backwards off his stool. The reaction of the other male relatives was slightly less extreme but revealed their shock to say the least.

Rosaleen looked up at her mother and dropped one black fringed eyelid in a wink before directing her gaze back at her plate. Merrila simply shook her head over Rosaleen's antics and wondered what the girl would do next. She didn't have to wait very long.

Rosaleen rose from the table and seated herself near the fire. The harp, a small three quarter octave instrument, was positioned in her lap. Long fingered hands plucked at the strings and a delicate recurring melody was expertly coaxed from the instrument.

The voice that rose above the harp chimed perfectly in tune with the melody. Gentle and sweet as the summer breeze over the rose gardens it wafted over her audience.

"The wings of the butterfly in trembling motion

Are said to cause hurricanes over the ocean.

Complex and wonderful such as men are

Do our foolish actions trouble a star?

::

So many tiny threads comprise a tapestry

The way life has been and how it must be.

The colors, like souls, full and rich and rare

Do we see the patterns and do we care?

::

For life is a tale, from beginning to the end

Our own story best told from the heart of a friend

Do we travel together or go our separate ways?

Yet all life is interwoven until the end of days."

::

When the song at last faded away and the last chime of the harp stilled Rosaleen withdrew from the hall.

Merrila concealed a smile over the reaction her daughter had evoked. The lady Ljosa looked decidedly annoyed and her husband thoughtful. Mory was stunned and for once at a loss for words. Merrila's other two brothers Lestal and Jeank were conversing in low tones, accents of astonishment coloring their voices.

Merrila's smile faded completely when she saw Ljosa and Serek's son. He had a gleam in his eye that Merrila couldn't like though their daughter merely looked peevish. Loren at thirteen was years younger than Rosaleen and could not hope to compare with the exotic half elf's beauty.

Merrila sighed and wondered if Rosaleen's display would cause more trouble than it would solve for her daughter.

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><p>Rosaleen leapt the last two stairs to the ground and raced into the armory. Snatching her blades from the wall she hurriedly belted them on and rushed to the courtyard for weapon's practice. Her long legs were concealed beneath her most baggy hose and a knee length tunic with its hood kept her warm, while a patched jerkin would protect her from any blows she might take.<p>

In the two weeks since she'd worn a gown to the hall Serek's son Saldan had been following her about. He had joined the men-at-arms for weapon's practice, unheard of for this particular lord's son, and continually sought out her company if not her conversation. Rosaleen found this unsettling especially in light of her mother's cautionary words on ever being alone with Saldan.

Arriving in the courtyard her haste was rewarded by her Uncle Mory's solitary figure as he ran through his warm up exercises. "Uncle." Rosaleen hailed him as she stepped into the yard. More than one man had nearly lost a limb for not giving Mory warning of their approach. Her uncle's reflexes were still sharp as ever.

"Ah, Briar." Mory wiped sweat from his brow and nodded to her, "You're early."

"Aye." She smiled slightly. "I'm in need of some advice."

"That would be Saldan giving you trouble?" Mory inquired.

Rosaleen shook her head in amazement. "I might have known that you'd already heard."

"The way he's been dogging your steps it's a wonder Lady Ljosa doesn't realize." Mory snorted. "Don't let him catch you alone." He added.

"Isn't there anything more I can do?" She asked in disgust thinking that her aunt already was aware of her son's behavior.

Mory shook his head. "Technically you and I, your mother and our brothers aren't even nobility. We're not in line for the succession and we have no official place in the family. For you to do anything against him is a commoner 'gainst a noble."

Rosaleen's mouth set into a grim line. "That explains a bit. But why are we all still at Serendal?"

Mory's rugged face creased into a grin for a moment. "At first because your grandfather delighted in his large brood. He wanted us near him. And in order to ensure our home he made sure we were trained in various skills. Your uncle Lestal is a fine weaponsmith and Serek couldn't run this place without Jeank in charge of the men. Me, I had some skill with teaching and weapons, so I teach all of you how to defend yourselves. And your mama has a near genius for dyes and weaving." He smiled gently at his slender niece. "With your elven blood we knew you'd be graceful, so we've all been trying to make you a warrior. We thought you might take mine or Jeank's place someday. We didn't know you'd inherited your Da's talent for music."

Rosaleen smiled faintly. "So I have no defenses?"

Mory shook his head. "Stay by one of us if you can. We have no official place but between the five of us we could cripple Serendal should we leave and Serek knows it."

Rosaleen sighed and gave her uncle a tiny salute. "Well, now I know."

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><p>She was back in her room idly plucking the harps strings when the conversation she'd overheard came to mind. In her attempt to avoid Saldan she'd taken a shortcut through Ljosa's solar. She'd just been out the doorway when Serek and Ljosa came in arguing heatedly.<p>

"I tell you Ljosa he must be made to leave her alone!" Serek said forcefully.

"Why does it matter if he has her or not?" his wife retorted. "She's probably no better than she should be!"

"For one thing bastard or no she is my niece and I won't see her harmed." Serek said angrily. "And for another if I'm able to contract a marriage for her it could strengthen our truce with Lord Trusdant."

Ljosa immediately took exception to that. "Why are you worrying over a marriage for her and not our daughter?"

"Because our daughter, despite her resemblance to you, pales when compared to Rosaleen and you know it. If we are to stand a chance of marrying Loren off then Rosaleen cannot be anywhere near her!" Serek exploded. "Hardly anyone remembered that Briar was also a Rose until a few weeks ago. Small wonder Saldan is so hot to have her."

"Well I don't see why he cannot!" Ljosa spat. "She's forever among the men anyway, she's most likely long since lost her maidenhead." Serek's eyes narrowed in consideration as he listened to his wife. "It's not as if she's had a good example before her. Her mother didn't exactly make a respectable marriage. Your niece is a bastard of a bastard." Her voice grew cunning and persuasive. "Why not turn her elven blood to our advantage. Trusdant will enjoy a hot-blooded wench in his bed and everyone knows that elves are pleasure mad. We'll simply imply that she's a wild one and experienced and he'll nearly beg to marry her. And Saldan can do what he will since she's probably not a virgin anyway."

Serek made some reply to the affirmative and chuckled richly. Sickened by what she'd learned Rosaleen had darted away, carefully making sure that she wasn't seen or heard.

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><p>Now as she held the instrument in her hands she wondered how long it would be before her uncle tried to marry her off to some lecherous lord. The harp sighed a chorus to her thoughts and restlessly she began to pluck a tune. And for once there was no joy in her music, and Rosaleen learned that the harp spoke of sorrow as eloquently as the flute.<p>

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><p>"Ugh!" Rosaleen wrenched herself away from Saldan. With a strength born of desperation she heaved him off of her and ran. It seemed her feet barely touched the ground and she didn't remember snatching her blades from the walls of the armory, nor running with them in hand to the courtyard where her uncle waited to begin the morning's training.<p>

Mory looked up at her rushed approach and drawn blades. The faint flush in her cheeks and disheveled clothing spoke eloquently of what had occurred. The weaponsmaster scowled, his rage etched over his face. "How did he catch you?" He rasped out.

Rosaleen took a deep breath. "I was careful uncle, but he is devious. Lucia and I were both going in the same direction so I was walking with her. He ordered her away and attacked me." Her entire frame was trembling with rage. "He is much stronger than I am and it was only luck that I got away."

Mory gathered the delicate girl into his arms, carefully avoiding her rapier's tip and hugged her thankfully. "It didn't take him long did it?" He observed.

Rosaleen hissed out. "I will challenge him. As an equal on the field I have a chance of defending myself."

"A challenge will allow him to name the terms." Mory said quietly. "But from the looks of him he will challenge you. You seem to have hurt his pride."

Rosaleen turned and barely saw Saldan's form through the red haze that dropped over here eyes. When she was able to control her anger she agreed with Mory. Saldan's face was scratched and his lip bleeding. "I challenge you!" The boy shouted. "I challenge Rosaleen Dhu to a duel. To the death!"

"So if you can't have her you'll kill her?" Mory snorted derisively. "Your father will never agree. To first blood, or I will challenge you myself, little man."

"To first blood then." Saldan spat blood from his mouth furiously. "And when I win she is mine for however long I like. I choose broadswords."

Rosaleen smiled coldly. All color and passion had faded from her face and mind. "I believe as the party challenged right of weapon choice is mine." She replied. "I choose, rapier and main gauche. And when I win you will never attempt to touch me again." She turned to her uncle. "Uncle Mory, I trust you will act as my second?"

The weaponsmaster nodded slowly. "I will have Jeank in here to act as the mediator. Who will you name as second Saldan? Your father?" His contempt was plain.

Saldan flushed. "I'll not have a bastard ordering me about. I name Luxor as my second." Mory looked at the dark haired soldier a few feet away from Saldan. "Luxor is that agreeable?" The soldier grimaced and nodded. "Then shall we set the time?" Luxor nodded amiably. Mory turned to Rosaleen whose lips set in an unsmilingly grim line.

"Now." She said softly. "Let it be now. He will not have another chance at me."

Mory nodded to Luxor and the soldier turned to the lord's son. "And is now acceptable to you?" The soldier's tone was soft and deceptively gentle.

Saldan nodded angrily. "The little bitch can have a beating now just as well as later."

Rosaleen arched an eyebrow skeptically and regarded her cousin with cold eyes. "He will need appropriate weapons." She said without concern. "And Jeank must be fetched."

Mory nodded eyeing his niece in concern. "Gerald, go and get Jeank immediately." He gestured dismissively. Turning to the rest of the slowly gathering men he addressed them. "Weapons practice is taking second place to a matter of honor today. Saldan of Serendal demands satisfaction for his pride, Rosaleen Dhu, daughter of Vidan Dhu, elven bladesinger and bard, welcomes the opportunity to educate Saldan in courtesy. Those of you who wish may watch, the rest take your leave until the sun is over the ramparts."

Rosaleen allowed no display of curiosity or emotion to cross her face but spoke to her uncle when he turned back to her. "Elven bladesinger? Bard?" She queried.

Mory grinned. "Vidan and I were fast friends. He was a warrior of his race before he took up music. And he could use magic and still have a sword in hand. I'd never seen the like but watching him fight gave me a goal I'll strive towards all my life." He looked the deceptively fragile appearing girl over. "You have more height than he and a bit less grace but you could be his equal with enough work. If your music doesn't call you away from the sword."

Rosaleen grinned. "So long as I win this match I'll be satisfied." Mory rolled his eyes and together they waited for their mediator to arrive and for Saldan to arm himself.

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><p>The duel itself was mercifully short. Saldan, angry and overly conscious of his humiliation, fought without honor or grace. His movements were passionate but without control and his lack of experience with the weapons used only added to his lacks. He took every opportunity to strike at his opponent.<p>

By contrast Rosaleen was almost cold in her precise graceful movements. Her dark eyes were the only part of her that showed any emotion and they flickered with anger but never gave away her attack. She took every chance to strike at her enemy but never wasted any motion.

When she drew Saldan's blood it was almost anticlimactic, a slash along his jaw to the corner of his eye, laying open his cheek and drawing a howl of rage from the boy. She waited warily for him to throw down his weapons and concede defeat. He did not. Saldan charged her, full of his rage and lost to reason. Rosaleen turned his attack away but shouted at him. "It is over! I have first blood!"

Saldan snarled at her viciously. "And I said to the death!" He charged her again and with a frown she ducked beneath his wild swing. Kicking him hard in the stomach she knocked him down and held her rapier tip to his throat.

"Uncle," she did not take her gaze from Saldan. "Would you say that this is done?"

"Aye." Jeank agreed. "The day is yours." Rosaleen nodded and stepped away from Saldan slowly. She did not turn her back to him until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning she saw it was the lord. Serek frowned down at her and she took a deep breath. The lord of Serendal was not pleased, not pleased at all.

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><p>That night the Black Rose was born. Rosaleen used skills she'd learned climbing trees in her childhood to climb the wall below her window and then with all the stealth she could muster crept through armory and gathered the provisions Mory had left for her.<p>

In the deepening twilight no one could remember seeing a slim agile figure on the walls. No one understood how she'd managed to carry away her fathers bow as well as her other weapons. Books and clothing as well as her instruments were all gone from her room. The lord of Serendal questioned every man of the guard and all of Rosaleen's uncles. No one admitted to having helped the girl or to seeing her leave.

Mory simply frowned his expression so severe that Serek simply shrugged and left the weaponsmaster to his thoughts. Mory's thoughts were grim but strangely satisfying. He'd seen her climbing down the wall with a blanket wrapped bundle on her back.

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><p>Rosaleen had simply been grateful that her uncle had the foresight to plan for the possible result of her duel. The pack he'd given her with food and directions to a meadow where he'd tied a gelding of stout heart and quick feet were all she needed to get on her way.<p>

Now she was moving away from Serendal at a brisk trot breathing a sigh of relief. Sadly she had not been able to bid her mother and uncles goodbye. Mory had merely intercepted her, given her the pack and kissed her in rough affection before sending her on her way. He'd told her not to stop until dawn and not even then if her horse could continue.

So she was on her own. Rosaleen fingered the pendent around her neck and decided to head further west. Supposedly her father had come from the west, perhaps she might find his people if she was lucky enough.

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><p>The next days were difficult in more ways than one. Raised, however roughly, within the walls of a keep had ill prepared her for the day to day needs of the road. She burnt most of her food, when it wasn't raw or a peculiar combination of both. And there was no one to talk to but her horse which she called Patience in wry irony for he was anything but.<p>

Finally she came to a small village that did not boast an inn but did have a small tavern where travelers might find a meal and bed down on the floor. Warily she entered and asked for cider. The bar keep eyed her strangely but brought her the drink and she gave him the copper he'd requested. With the deep hood she wore all he could see were slender white hands and hear a quiet voice.

Rosaleen looked around the dark room with its low beams and oily lanterns. It was a typical tavern with straw on the floor and a large fireplace. Most of the rough tables were filled with men who were drinking with the single-mindedness of working men. One sat apart from the rest, by the fire, and his clothing and pack marked him as a fellow traveler.

She beckoned to the bar keep and asked in a low voice if music would be taken amiss. The man grinned at her revealing two teeth of which he was inordinately proud and told her that she could make as much noise as she wanted no one would care. Rosaleen's mouth twisted in puzzled humor and she raised her fathers flute to her lips. Soft at first and then growing louder in volume as the talking lowered she piped a sprightly tune that wound in and about itself in a queer question. Not taking the chance that she'd be silenced she dove from that into another merry air that invited feet to tap in time with the beat.

This time when the tune ended she paused to take a deep breath and smiled when after a stunned silence applause and loud whistles exploded from her audience. She saw a few more men come in the door and squeeze into a table. They bellowed out their orders for drinks and sat quietly afterward waiting for the next tune.

Rosaleen lifted the flute to her lips again and a melancholy air drifted through the room. It was as sorrowful as a sigh and in the melody the listener could almost hear a woman weeping of loneliness and pain.

From that tune she drew them into a mood of mystery that seemed to twist and pull at the shadows flickering over the ceiling. Replacing her flute she pulled out her harp and plucked a tune to tremble under her voice with the mood of the tale she told. A story of a girl born to a wanderers destiny, with gifts from a father she'd never known. Her own story slightly exaggerated and underscored with music. When the story came to its end she smiled and remarked quietly. "So she left her home and all she'd known to seek her father's people. And one night she came to a tiny village tavern and hoped her voice would bring enough joy that the folk there would aid her with food and shelter. She is the Black Rose; will you judge her worthy?" She reached up and pulled her deep hood off and dark green eyes swept over her listeners before she bowed.

A moment of stunned silence followed and the bar keep placed an empty bowl beside her and then a full plate of bread and cheese. "The lass has entertained you lot far better than your boasting contests. Put your gratitude in the bowl for she still has a long way ta go." Rosaleen smiled at him gratefully and began to eat.

She was offered shelter and warmth by the same man and was even given a few coppers by men with deeper pockets. After her meal she played again and delighted in the music and the laughter.

That night she slept deeply near the fire, the other traveler a few feet away.

* * *

><p>Morning brought new problems in the form of a soldier from Serendal. Rosaleen cursed softly as she observed the man entering the village. Her fellow traveler followed her gaze and frowned. He walked and stood with the grace of an older man, someone who was experienced with both sword and battle. He was several inches taller than she, at least six feet tall. His voice when he spoke to her for the first time was ragged and rough from some old injury. "He is a pursuer?"<p>

Rosaleen nodded, "I need to get out before he sees me." Her gaze darted over the room and settled on a small hide-covered window. "That is my way to the gelding. He won't find me after." Her voice was grim.

The stranger's voice held a grin. "Meet me at the back of the stables, such as they are. I'll distract him, you get our horses."

Rosaleen regarded him quizzically and then nodded. She lowered her pack and bow through the window and then slipped out. The stranger watched her disappear and then stepped boldly into the sun.

* * *

><p>Rosaleen murmured soft reassuring words to the horses. The dappled gray mare was gentle but Patience shifted restlessly. Finally a travel worn figure slipped around the wall. Rosaleen looked at the stranger skeptically. "What did you do?"<p>

The voice that answered sounded like a growl with humor in it. "Through a touch of the Art he now believes the well handle is held by a person who steadfastly refuses to speak but obviously knows something." He mounted his horse and waited for her to do the same. When she did not move he sighed impatiently. "It would be better that we were gone before he comes out if it." She mounted her horse and gestured for him to lead the way.

When they had gone several miles away from the village Rosaleen pulled Patience to a halt and waited. The stranger continued for several yards before he noticed her absence. Turning his mount they trotted back to her. "You wish to rest so early?" He queried in rough whimsical tones.

Rosaleen pulled her hood back enough to see him clearly. She then looked at his hood until he did the same.

The face of her fellow traveler was not beautiful. His hair was dark brown, his skin was tanned brown and his eyes an obsidian black. Scars marred his throat and part of his face. They were obviously old marks for they too had tanned slightly. His ears were as pointed as her own and his features sharp as though carved by a wicked blade. There was nothing handsome in his face. It was compelling, and strangely attractive but not because of beauty. It was a face that proclaimed strength and hardship and valor.

"Are you quite through staring?" The rough growling voice asked, "I am well aware of the contrast between our faces, you needn't force such comparisons on me."

Rosaleen jerked in surprise. "I saw a wild lion once." She said slowly, deliberately. "He was old and had been in many battles. His hide was terribly scarred. He was still free, had lived fully. He was terrifyingly beautiful and so noble he made my heart ache." Her black green eyes focused on the stranger until understanding dawned in his eyes and his skin flushed faintly. "I stopped because there is no longer a need for us to travel together. He pursues me and you should not trouble yourself further."

"It is no trouble." He bowed in his saddle. "You may even find me useful."

Rosaleen's eyes narrowed. "What is your name?" Her face was cold and wary.

"I am called Dragon, by those who choose to call me anything." He smiled slightly. "It is a name that will do as well as any other." His gaze grew sharp. "You, I know, are the Black Rose. It suits you."

She pressed her lips together. "It serves me." Her voice was eerily absent of inflection. "If you choose to address me, you may call me Briar."

"A Black briar rose?" Dragon queried. "How very odd, those are usually crimson, or pale pink like your lips." She looked at him stonily and debated the idea of riding as fast as she could away from him. "Ah, let that wary look fade from your eyes my Briar rose," He smiled slightly. "You have nothing to fear from me. I know full well that beauty has little to do with a beast, even one so noble, as the lion."

Rosaleen sighed. "The tale I told last eve was true, in all its parts." She said in deliberately even voice. "And it is more recent than most could guess. Remarks on my beauty will not improve my temper. The face I wear is my fathers and it's only value the aid it gives in finding him."

Dragon smiled at her and his hand was gentle as he pulled her hood further forward. "Then let us conceal such beauty, for I doubt I could refrain from praising it for long." His rough voice was almost soft and he took her hand carefully so as not to startle her. "Black Rose, Briar, and in the language of my mother Rosaleen Dhu." He was surprised as her hand jerked from his in fright. The dark green eyes were staring at him in shock. "In the language of my mother I am Nwyfan Reisolnt Draco. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Rosaleen smiled tremulously. " I am honored to meet you, Nwyfan Dragon Heart. Names are such weighty things." She said quietly. "Should you call me Briar I would be grateful. The weight of my name, and my father's name is heavy right now."

"It would be a pleasure." Dragon grinned. "Shall we continue on? I know a good place to camp but it is a fair ways off."

She nodded and watched as he pulled up his hood concealing his face.

* * *

><p>The place he chose for them to make camp was amidst a ruin of an ancient keep with a circle of broken stones in the center. She looked around warily and dismounted only after he did. "This is a strange place." She commented quietly. "I almost expect ghosts to walk through the archways."<p>

Dragon grinned at her. "You see into two worlds then, like every other bard I've met." He said as he dug the fire pit. "Try not to let the ghosts bother you as you gather up the wood."

Rosaleen nodded absently and her hand caressed the hilt of her rapier as she moved towards the surrounding forest. Her small journey was uneventful but for the chattering of the squirrels and she returned feeling slightly foolish. Setting the dead wood in an untidy pile by the fire pit she slung her quiver over her shoulder and picked up her bow. "If you will make the fire, I will seek out meat for our meal."

"If you can get a quail that would be good." Dragon commented. "But Briar," she turned to regard him. "Don't go too far, you were correct when you said this was a strange place."

She nodded soberly and melted into the woods.

Dragon stared after her and mentally debated the wisdom of following her. Shaking his head he began to build the fire. He was not the most sociable of fellows. His studies took much of his time. Even before the magical explosion had marked him he had been a solitary fellow. The last thing he had expected was to invite a bard on his travels. But she was young and frightened and he had ever had a soft place in his hard heart for the innocent. That she was not repelled by his face and voice was a pleasant surprise. With a smooth movement he pulled the bastard sword from the sheath on his back. The edge was sharp as ever but he lovingly began to oil and polish the blade. In the fire's light the hilt sparkled and shone; it caught the light like fire.

The shadows deepened and then twilight's misty skies drifted over the trees but Briar didn't return. Dragon looked at the trees where she'd walked away and with a sigh rose to his feet. Taking a small polished bowl from his pack he filled it with water at the crumbling well and dusted it with dried herbs. Murmuring low wild sounding phrases he gesticulated gracefully over the bowl and was rewarded with a slight gleam. He pictured Briar in his mind and pushed the thought into the spell. Slowly a picture of the girl appeared. She was hiding in a bush with an arrow ready to fly. Her face was still and patient as she waited. Dragon murmured something else and the angle of the vision tilted, enabling him to view what she was seeing. A face with protruding tusks and green tinged skin swam in the bowl and he shook his head. Obviously the orc hadn't seen her yet and might not if she kept still. There was only the one, apparently he also was hunting. As Dragon watched the orc moved out of the bowls vision and it shifted back to Briar. Her face was more relaxed though she kept her arrow ready. After a moment she rose stealthily and he saw that she had a small bag tied to her belt. The bowl blurred then and the water became dull and opaque.

Dragon raised his head with a sigh of relief and weariness. Emptying the bowl and carefully wiping it clean he replaced it in his pack. He took up his sword and began to nonchalantly polish it again. It was not too long after that she entered the circle of firelight. With a nod of greeting she knelt by the fire and untied the bag. Pulling out three birds she began to pluck them. "You were gone a while." He commented neutrally.

Rosaleen eyed him curiously. "There must be an orc village in this region. I nearly ran into a hunter." She scowled down at the birds. "He took my fourth bird." With a shrug she spitted the birds and put them over the fire. In silence, she unstrung her bow and carefully oiled the wood. Her arrows were meticulously cleaned and replaced in their quiver. She eyed Dragon and his careful polishing of his blade but forbore comment.

Dragon watched idly and on occasion turned the birds but otherwise enjoyed the silence, listening for odd noises from the surrounding forest. "You have good woodcraft if you can avoid another hunter." He said carefully. "Who taught you? Your father?"

"My uncle." She replied quietly. "I never knew my father."

Dragon raised his eyebrows. "But he had a hand in your naming? Or was your mother fluent in Elven?"

She shrugged. "She never really said. He didn't know of me though. How could he when my mother did not until he was gone? She could speak Elven though, he taught her and she taught me. And she gave me his name."

Dragon looked over at Briar curiously; she had pulled out the silver and cherrywood flute and was regarding it with a strange expression. "My father left four things with my mother. A pendant. A bow. This flute, and myself." Her dark green eyes were unreadable as she looked up at him. "Sometimes I wonder what he was like. If he and I would have argued often or if he was affectionate. Did you know both of your parents?" She asked.

Dragon shook his head. "My father was killed when I was very young. I have no memory of him. My mother was an adventurer; she turned merchant when I was born. But she taught me everything she knew of magic and swordplay."

"Was that sword hers?" Briar asked softly.

"No. This was my fathers." Dragon held it up so that he hilt was clear. "It is for this that I am named." The guard and hilt of the bastard sword were in the shape of a dragon its wings outspread. At its heart was a ruby. The workmanship was remarkable and the entire sword was a thing of beauty.

"How lovely." Briar breathed the words in awe. "I've never seen a blade that was also a work of art."

Dragon gestured to her set of blades. "Yours are quite fine."

Briar drew the rapier and the smaller companion blade. The guard was of twisted steel, the hilt wrapped in dark green leather. "They are functional." She said finally. "They are not beautiful in and of themselves, only when I hold them and compel them to move in battle."

Dragon smiled at the arrogance in her voice. "Then you consider your skill with the blades to be great?"

Briar met his gaze steadily. "I survived a duel, and in my uncles practice ring there is no quarter given for a relative or a female." Her voice was matter of fact and unenthused. "I have some small skill or he would not have continued to teach me."

Dragon nodded his understanding. "Why would you undertake such a thing when it is obvious that you have a gift for music." He queried, curiosity coloring his macabre voice.

She looked down at the shining blades in her hands. For a very long time they had ruled her life. "My uncles were trying to protect me. If I were skilled enough I would earn a place at Serendal. A position of respect and security. And because of my heritage they found me to also have a gift for the blades." When Dragon's eyebrows shot up she said testily. "Do not judge me by my face Dragon. You have never stood against me on the sands, nor have you had the teaching of me. I speak the truth. I have a gift. That it has been little joy to me is beside the point."

Dragon shook his head but didn't question her further. He watched as she sheathed the blades and raised the flute to her lips. The haunting melody that floated over the air stirred his heart and tightened his throat with unshed tears. His voice was rougher than usual when he asked. "What do you call it?"

The music drifted away and Briar smiled. "Lost." She told him. Replacing the flute in its pouch she pulled out her harp. The song she played was gentle and spoke of the beauty of the night and the wonder of a moment of romance.

"Your music would bring tears to my eyes were I capable of weeping." A new voice spoke from the shadows.

Dragon's sword was in his hands an instant later and Briar carefully set the harp to the side as a ghostly figure stepped closer to them.

"Do not stop playing, I beg you." The sweet voice entreated. "It has been so long since I heard music." As the figure coalesced they could see it was a human girl with honey colored hair and brown eyes. "You needn't be concerned." She said gesturing to Dragon's sword. "I have no intention of harming either of you." As she came closer they saw the shimmering aura surrounding her. "I am Lasenu."

Dragon looked at Briar hoping she'd drawn her blades but the girl had picked up her harp again. He didn't lower his blade as he stood glaring at the apparition.

Briar regarded the ghost in awe. "I'm Briar." She offered. "This is Dragon. I've never met a ghost before."

"For your sake I hope you do not have the opportunity again." Lasenu replied. "Most are not as benign as myself."

Briar idly caressed the harpstrings and regarded the ghost with clear questioning eyes. "So that Dragon may put his mind at ease, perhaps you will explain your sudden appearance?"

Lasenu smiled. "Your music called to me, you have the soul of a bard and only a true bard can bear the gift I have. But you have the heart of a warrior and only a warrior has the strength to complete the task that must be completed. And in your friend I see a spirit kin to my own with a mage's wisdom and a warrior's courage."

Dragon scowled, his scarred visage even more forbidding, in spite of the ghosts pretty words. "What task is this?" He moved closer to Briar protectively.

"I was a Knight of Twilight." The ghost replied. "And while I was journeying on behalf of my order I was killed. The message I bore will be lost if it is not carried on."

"I haven't heard of the Knights of Twilight." Briar said in a puzzled tone, but Dragon was nodding his acceptance with a sad smile.

"Perhaps you will tell us who founded the order and who heads it now?" He said slowly, thinking that not many knew of the Knights and fewer of those who had created and ran the loosely organized group.

Lasenu nodded. "Dark Lady Alauniira founded the Knights and Enigma leads us now."

Dragon visibly relaxed and sheathed his blade. Sitting down next to Briar he smiled. "We will bear your message." His smile concealed his relief as his mind raced through the information he'd been given. When he'd been sent from Sanctuary Enigma had told him of the missing knight. He had been sent to complete her journey and discover what had happened to her.

Briar regarded Dragon with astonishment and her wide eyes invited elaboration. Dragon sighted and looked at the girl. Inwardly he shook his head, she was still young and he didn't know how far he could trust her with his secrets. She would be safer knowing nothing of his status or background.

Lasenu smiled and settled herself on the ground across from them. "It must be taken to Sanctuary outside in the Misty Wood. In Waterdeep ask for Deirdriu of the Midnight Sun, she will arrange passage for you." She took a deep breath, the habits of humanity still strong. "Tell them, the Elder Eye has found a haven in the Dark Keep to the west. And a knife in the dark may become a Dagger if given guidance." Lasenu frowned. "The knife is already in motion and the life of the second Knight is in danger."

Dragon nodded seriously and waited a moment. Lasenu shook her head. "That is all." She said quietly. "I don't know who the assassin is, nor at whom the knife is aimed. But I heard rumors to the effect that the first knight is also in danger but from another source. The man who told me all of this turned up dead the next day. All I know for certain is that the Knights are in danger from two different sources. Three if you consider the Elder Eye."

Dragon frowned but said nothing in response. "That is the whole of the message then?" He asked.

Lasenu nodded. "You must be on your guard. I did not die in an accident, nor at the hands of rampaging monsters and humanoids. That is why I said it would take a warriors heart and courage. But only a true bard can possess the gift I leave behind."

Briar had remained silent throughout the conversation and now looked quizzically at Dragon and Lasenu. The scarred half elf looked at her and smiled slightly. "I believe that we have a bard. Certainly she has the gift."

Lasenu pointed at the small ruin of stone. "Beneath the stones lie my body and my possessions. Among them are spell books and a harp of great beauty. There is also a ring and a circlet. I leave them all to you if you will but deliver that message." She began to fade from their sight. "Do not fail me, I beg you, I will not rest until my mission has been successfully completed."

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Black Rose**

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><p><em>Author's Note: Thanks for sticking with me so far. I hope you're enjoying yourselves. We meet someone very important in this chapter...two someones actually.<em>

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><p>Briar tugged her hood further over her eyes and settled into her chair. Drawing herself out of the past to gaze over the candle lit interior of the tavern she smiled to herself slightly. They'd met Lasenu's ghost only a year ago and the adventure that had followed had been like a ride on a wild horse.<p>

In the end, the circlet had been destroyed by the assassin that had been after Enigma, the second knight. The assassin herself had proved to be willing to change, but had been killed in a battle a week later. The spellbooks Dragon had made good use of, finding many, as he said 'interesting things' before he had copied them and passed them on.

The ring was a strange carved piece of blackish green stone, a match for Briar's eyes and Dragon had insisted that she wear it. The harp had truly been a thing of beauty and wild magic. Briar had struggled to master its strings and power and in the end, the great spell that had robbed her of her voice, wits and sight for a month, would have taken her life as well but for Dragon breaking the harp in her hands.

She regretted its loss, but after learning of that from Dragon, not how she had lost it. The spell had saved Sanctuary and Dragon, and in comparison the cost had not been so great. She had been told though that through that month Dragon had been a wreck. When she had woken, her eyes clear and reasoning, able to speak for the first time, he had been at her bedside his terrible eyes streaming tears and thankful that he had his sister with him again.

After that Dragon had, with his leader's encouragement and permission, retired from active duty in the Knights. He had confided everything to her of his previous status and had been ill prepared for her explosion of displeasure. She had icily informed him that he was not to abandon his duties out of fear for her safety.

In the end they had compromised. Dragon had stayed with the Knights as a listener, sending word back magically to Sanctuary of what he heard in various lands of the old enemies they'd fought and possible new problems.

"How is your harp Briar?" The growling voice that sounded as if it came from a dead man's throat asked her.

The bard looked up and smiled from within her hood. "She is tuned and ready to sing. More so than I." She replied softly. "And the Black Rose needs must appear, before the crowd grows unruly."

"You've nothing to worry about." Dragon said roughly. "The Dark Ladies themselves praise your voice. You've brought me to weeping time and again, and that is no little thing." Eerie obsidian eyes stared into green black. "Have a bit of faith."

Briar grinned reluctantly. "The faith I have is in Her, not myself." She said ironically. "I go." She rose from her chair and taking up the small pack that rested near their larger one, left the common room.

* * *

><p>Sebastian raised the glass he held in his hand and looked through the glass and the wine within it to the yellow light of a lamp beyond. The light turned the wine a gleaming liquid gold, tiny bubbles like precious gems glowing within the liquid. He sighed.<p>

The duties he'd been given had called him out this night. Having dispatched them with elegant and casual grace he was free to call his time his own, if a prince of the realm could ever be considered free. And to his dismay, a prince was exactly what he was.

Not for him the stern duties of the heir to the crown thank the gods. Though he admitted privately that were he forced to it he might make a credible king someday. But it was not a duty he could take up with joy the way his elder brother did. That final responsibility was not a burden he could take up lightly nor set down again once he had carried its weight.

That his brother accepted his future as king, prepared for it willingly and was determined to do what was right for his country, sacrificing his own preferences and personal happiness if he must had earned Sebastian's everlasting respect and admiration.

Trouble was, Sebastian thought, the role he played for the benefit of the public was terribly boring if one possessed a brain. He, himself, was not stupid, yet the part he played, the fool, was exceptionally stupid in his lack of awareness of the grand scale on which the courtiers' games could be played.

A true courtier, such as his mentor Raden could have been, was a gentleman or lady, of consummate acting skill and a pretence of indifference to politics, all the while playing the politicians game with deadly efficiency. Courtiers of this type were generally known to be rumored dangerous, but nothing could ever be proven nor any action taken against them. Courtiers were dangerous if they fit this definition, the power they could gain was extraordinary, given time, cunning and patience.

Sebastian was resigned to playing a part within a part. Rather, disguising what he truly was, the most dangerous type of courtier, the kings spy, under the face of the man no one takes seriously. The courtier who is a lords son, who takes his place by birthright, has no ambition other than to drink, wench, enjoy art, swordplay and music and never take anything seriously excepting his name and honor. And even those things to be defended without wisdom or discretion.

Sebastian was at the inn tonight playing the part of the fool as he liked to call his courtiers face. He deviated from that defined role enough to give it a personal touch, his love of music could never be denied, not with his mother and the rest of his family so well known. He pursued an enjoyment of the arts with a passion and seriousness other men reserve for the acquisition of land, wealth or the begetting of heirs.

And yet, this was not truly dangerous to his disguise. Since he was a child he had loved music. Anyone who thought they truly knew him would be suspicious if as an adult he were no longer interested in music. But for one such as he to be interested only in music and disdaining any other topic with the scorn of one unconcerned with politics or policy or the world, this was more likely.

Sebastian sighed again. The problem was, he was terribly bored with the world in general. His duties with Raden, the head of the assassins guild and the Spymaster, kept his mind occupied most of the time. Ferreting out the secrets of courtiers and diplomats of other nations, putting the puzzle of potential conspiracies together, and training to be a better assassin and spy than his mother or Raden, these things kept him busy, for most of his days.

But these days it was as if the world held no more delights. He truly loved his family, but out of necessity, he'd begun to put a certain distance between he and them. He could not play a part that his family did not support and aid in him displaying, so he closed parts of himself off, never discussing anything serious with anyone but his mother and sometimes not even she. Music was a delight and an escape, the sweetest of refuges, but again, it was not forever. When the music stopped, there was nothing to hold onto the feelings it engendered within him.

Alone in the crowd, left that way by preference, he had no one in which he could confide, and it was safest for he and his family that way. He was always in a crowd but never part of it. The perfect spy. The perfect assassin. Completely alone. He shook his head at himself. He had no choice if he was to assume Raden's position someday. To protect his family and country, he could endure.

Sebastian idly turned the wineglass in his hands watching the light through the liquid again before he set the glass down. He'd heard rumors of an extraordinary bard, one who had never performed in Aeliara before. But her audition had apparently been so amazing that rumors of her talent flew before she'd even sung before an audience. Perhaps in this bard's music he would find solace for a time.

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><p>The exotic woman that entered bore no resemblance to the scruffy boy who had left. She wore a dress of dark green that clung to her lithe form lovingly and walked with regal and chilling grace. The black hair that fell to her thighs shimmered and shifted like silk. She was cold and elegant and breathtaking.<p>

And then she began to sing. Her voice held all the passion that her face restrained. Her hands moved like butterflies over her harp and flute. She held every soul in that room transfixed with longing for the beauty of her voice. She was a bard. That was all that needed to be said.

Dragon met her gaze from his corner table and smiled wickedly. He'd known all along the beauty of that fluttering sweet voice. The high pure tones were almost holy they were so beautiful. But the music and words she sang were of the longings of a flesh and blood creature.

At a table near the center of the stage sat a young man with curly golden hair and the wickedly beautiful face of a fallen angel. Eyes the intense blue of a star sapphire stared up at the bard in shocked delight. His appreciation of the music and the woman who stood before him was evident in his expression and the intent tilt of his head, as well as his rigidly alert posture.

When her hands at last stilled on their instruments, she simply stood and regarded the room with a slow sweet smile, that showed her dimples and warmed her entire face, she nodded her head in recognition of their enjoyment. "I am the Black Rose." She said in a voice like a whisper that carried to every corner and shadow. "I thank you." Her eyes dipped momentarily down at the young man and widened slightly at his face before she lifted them again to where Dragon sat.

Dragon's hand moved in an arcane gesture and as she lifted a hand in elegant farewell he hissed out the final word of the spell. And she disappeared.

There was a shocked gasp of surprise and dismay and then the owner of the inn shouted that there was no cause for alarm. The blue-eyed man rose from his chair so quickly that it fell backwards as he looked around for some sign of the woman. At the innkeepers words the intense blue gaze fell upon the man and he moved to speak with him.

Dragon felt a ghostly hand on his shoulder and in response to the whisper that breathed in his ear rose with their pack in his hand. It was time to go up to their room and time for Briar to rest, the Black Rose to be silent for another day, until the night fell again.

Fortunately for the two of them, the innkeeper was one who kept his promises, especially when it was in his own interest to do so. He could bear the annoyance of a young nobleman. But to have the Black Rose perform on a stage other than his own, would certainly hurt his custom.

* * *

><p>Briar groaned as she smeared dust over her face and hands. The baggy clothing she wore had grown tiresome but she and Dragon had agreed it was the only way to keep the boy Briar was thought to be, and the woman the Black Rose was, from being connected.<p>

She looked at Dragon as she buckled her blades about her waist and peace bonded them. "There are rumors of a delegation from the elven nation come to the city. If my father lives, perhaps they may know of him?"

Dragon smiled slightly. "And will they let us anywhere near?" He asked in a dryly curious tone. "The Black Rose could get close, elves loving music as they do, but she has nothing to do with Briar and his quest."

Briar made a face and slumped into a chair. She hated to admit it but he was right. The only thing she could think of was pretending to carry a message on behalf of the Black Rose. Voicing this thought brought a twisted smile of appreciation to Dragon's lips.

"Carrying a message on behalf of yourself?" His amusement tinged his voice. "There's a strange logic to that."

Briar rolled her eyes. "But do you think it will work?" She asked dryly. "Is it worth drawing attention to myself?"

Dragon studied her. "You make a very pretty boy, if a tall gangly one." He said consideringly. "I would offer an illusion but in my experiences elves tend to be disturbingly adept at piercing them." He stroked her forehead and sighed. "I wish you would consider setting aside this guise. The Black Rose is well known now. To harm her, would not be healthy. And it would do you no harm to go openly as a female, and let folk see that you are able to defend yourself if need be."

Briar drew away. "My friend. As you do not trust beautiful women, I do not trust men." Her voice was cool and did not invite further conversation.

Undaunted Dragon continued. "You do not have to trust men in order to go openly as a woman. And what of love? A life besides your music and your quest?"

Briar stared at him in shock. "You would speak to me of love Nwyfan?" She asked in a bitter voice. "You told me of the love a beautiful noblewoman bestowed and then withdrew when you did not please her. And I have seen all I care to of what love is. I do not believe in love Nwyfan. It does not exist for me." For a moment her thoughts flew to the beautiful young man who had listened to her music as if the Dark Maiden herself was singing and then he was ruthlessly banished. "There is no such thing as love Nwyfan."

Dragon sighed. "I told you of her, her cruelty and her carelessness with my heart. I haven't loved another noble woman since. But I have opened my heart to you, sister to my soul, and I trust you. Yet you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever known, including her."

"And I trust you, and you are a man." Briar's tone softened. "Brother to my hearts blood." She whispered. "Yet you and I, we do not love, not as you spoke of. And we are the better for it."

The half elf smiled slightly. "So we both have healing to do." He agreed. "But my point about your disguise stands. You are too pretty a boy to go overlooked for long."

Briar groaned. "I know, but there's nothing else to do. I must find out if Vidan Dhu lives and if he is in the elven nation to the east. Only the Black Rose has sufficient status to approach the ambassadors. It must be on her behalf that I go."

"Agreed." Dragon murmured distractedly as he buckled on his blade. "But I will go with you." His tone of voice brooked no argument.

* * *

><p>Sebastian slipped out the large door and breathed a sigh of relief. As necessary as he knew in his heart it was to meet the ambassadors, he truly despised all the diplomatic machinations that were included in his duties as one of his father's sons. His mother thankfully required a minimum of compliance with the rules, understanding his nature better than anyone else.<p>

A grin spread over his face as he spied his uncle down the hall. Mindful of the folk in the room he'd just left he moved at a fast soundless walk until he was within speaking distance.

"Anakin!" He said in a quiet though no less fervent tone. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Would you like to rephrase that?" The young elf turned and regarded his nephew with a grin. "Who would be the more appropriate question."

Sebastian's answering grin was one of wicked appreciation. "Point well taken, but my question is also quite legitimate." He tilted his head. "Do you have plans for this evening?"

Anakin pushed a hand through his moongold hair and regarded his relative. "Well, I had heard there is an excellent performance over at The Rose." He stopped as Sebastian began shaking his head. "You don't care to go to The Rose?" The elf inquired in tones that reminded Sebastian of his grandfather, Anakin's father.

"The Lark In The Morning." Sebastian said firmly.

"But there's nothing going on there. The food is fair I suppose but the wine is indifferent at best." Anakin argued.

"Anakin. The bard who sings there is…is…" Sebastian threw his hands up in frustration. "I don't have the words. She's exquisite, amazing…she's…"

"A bard?" Anakin repeated skeptically. "You would have me give up a performance at The Rose for one bard?" He folded his arms and met Sebastian's gaze. "What is she your newest paramour and you are compelled to support her efforts?"

"I haven't touched her; she doesn't know my name, who I am, or anything about me." Sebastian said quietly. "They call her The Black Rose. She has a voice that transfixed me Anakin, I only saw her face and form when she stopped singing. I couldn't stop listening to her long enough to look."

Anakin whistled in spite of himself. "My, my, so you are smitten?"

Sebastian scowled at him. "I am no such thing. But you've heard Lady Shen sing, and my mother. This woman could be heard in their company and no lack found with her at all." He smiled slightly. "At the end of the performance she actually saw me, looked at me. I want to see her, hear her again."

Anakin's eyes widened in surprise at the comparison and then narrowed at Sebastian's final words. "You are smitten." He said with arrogant certainty.

"You know Anakin, there are times when you sound a great deal like your father." Sebastian retorted. "I am going to see her tonight, whether you come or not."

The elf's face darkened like a thundercloud. "That is not the way to persuade me to attend."

Sebastian smiled wickedly. "But Uncle Anakin, I'm too young to be allowed out on my own." He raised his eyebrows in a truly maniacal fashion. "Actually, I really wanted you to hear her, but if you refuse to come with I'll just go myself. I am going to see her tonight, no matter what."

Anakin grinned. "No fear, nephew, I'll attend." He looked down the street. "But I'd better get home or I'll be persuading Lady Shen to unlock my room so that I am able to do so."

Sebastian chuckled in appreciation and leaned back against the doorjamb enjoying the sun. He was conscious of someone moving up the steps and knocking on the door to the embassy but paid them no attention.

He could hear a pleasant voice, and gave it no further consideration until he heard words that he'd spoken himself only moments ago. "The Black Rose." The voice said insistently. "If it pleases the ambassadors would they search their memories for the name that is written there?" There was an even quieter murmur from the butler and the voice spoke again. "Yes. Only send a message to The Lark In The Morning and we will see that she gets it."

Sebastian heard the door shut and looked up as the possessor of the voice came back down the stairs. Straightening from his relaxed pose he turned and stared into a dusty face shadowed by a hood and seemingly black eyes. His hand went instinctively under the person's arm as they recoiled.

"Forgive me for startling you." He made a smooth bow. "I'm Sebastian."

The boy jerked his arm out of Sebastian's grip and glanced towards the tall rather dangerous looking individual who stood at the foot of the steps. "Briar." He returned nodding coldly.

Sebastian looked from the boy to the man and a considering gleam lit his eyes. The man was the same who had been in the back of the common room and left shortly after The Black Rose's performance. In his way the warrior was as impossible to forget as the bard. Scars marred his face and his features were cruelly and sharply carved. "I must beg your pardon for waylaying you." He began and was quite rudely interrupted.

"Then why have you done?" The boy snapped with an asperity and presence of mind that was greater than his years. Briar immediately wished she hadn't when Sebastian turned his gaze back on her and she recognized him from her performance the night before. His eyes were a bit too shrewd and perceptive for her peace of mind and she pulled away from him a bit more.

"Why because I am an ardent admirer of The Black Rose." He said smoothly.

"She doesn't have admirers." The man said in a growling raspy voice, it sounded as if it should come from a corpse's throat rather than a living man's.

"She does now." Sebastian grinned. "Is there anything that I can help you do for her?"

Briar eased her way down the steps, away from the nobleman, whom she had begun to think more than slightly unbalanced. "Anything she needs done, we do. She wants no one else by her." She said in a terse voice.

"I see." A frown creased the blond man's forehead. "And who are you?" He asked, his cultured tones only mildly curious and the smile returning to his face.

"I'm Briar," she repeated stubbornly.

"And I'm Dragon." The older man said in equally unfriendly tones. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask?"

"I don't suppose you'd give me her direction?" Sebastian asked whimsically. He eyed the two of them in amusement and then something sharpened in his gaze again as he stared at Briar.

"No we wouldn't." Briar retorted and with a tug on Dragon's arm, the two of them hurried down the street.

Sebastian stared after them thoughtfully before he strolled off in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p>Briar nervously looked around the common room of the inn. She'd spotted Sebastian immediately, with an elf who was looking around and talking with an expression of bemused interest.<p>

"Why are you so nervous?" Dragon asked curiously. "You've performed for this same crowd before, I could almost swear to it."

"With one notable exception." Briar returned tightly. "None of them had seen me up close as a boy and then onstage as a girl." Just then, Sebastian turned in his chair and looked straight at she and Dragon. Nodding politely he turned around again. Briar got up with her small pack and left quickly to prepare. She didn't see Sebastian turn and look at her as she left.

* * *

><p>Sebastian turned back to Anakin with a slightly puzzled frown. "This is passing strange." He remarked quietly. "I told you of the lad that acted as messenger for the Black Rose?" Anakin nodded his recollection. "Well he is gangly, and by his voice, no more than thirteen years old, but he moves quite gracefully and is very tall for one so young. And from what I could see of his face he makes a very pretty little boy."<p>

Anakin's eyebrows shot up. "Perhaps he has some elven blood in him? That would explain his delicacy of feature." At Sebastian's questioning look he rolled his eyes. "There isn't much to see here Sebastian, I turned and looked at them too, when you spoke of them the first time. He is an extremely fine featured boy."

"Yes, but he left before The Black Rose came." Sebastian said quietly. "And he wasn't there at the end of the performance last time. It's…a bit odd, and I don't want to say anything until I'm sure of my suspicion. But there's something strange going on."

The innkeeper shouted for silence and from the back of the inn the Black Rose entered. As before she carried her harp, with her flute dangling from her belt. She wore green again, the green of the sea, the grey green of the river as it rained. Her hair was caught behind gracefully pointed ears and it shifted and swayed with her movements and her gown clung lovingly to her body.

In order to reach the stage she had to pass Sebastian's table and as she passed the young nobleman caught her hand and she paused as he raised it to his lips. A faint smudge of dust marred her knuckles, he noticed as he gently pressed his lips to the soft skin on the back of her hand. Raising his gaze to meet her eyes he noted that she was looking down on him quite coldly.

"Am I a trinket on a shopkeepers table, to be pawed and looked over, and purchased if I please?" She murmured, her light pure voice, purposely kept low in order to avoid embarrassing him. Her black green eyes glittered angrily.

"Are we simply to be adoring sycophants, only to sit and listen and mindlessly applaud your music and never touch and know you?" Sebastian returned in just as quiet a voice.

"As it pleases you milord." She whispered in a crisp voice and coldly removed her hand from his grasp and continued to the stage.

Taking a deep breath, she began to play. Her music and voice were as lovely as Sebastian remembered. The words she sang were breathtaking. When she sang, the fervor he had glimpsed in her glittering anger, rose to the surface and warmed her cool sculpted face. She was beauty transformed into warmth and passion.

She plucked a chord on the small harp and bowed her head for a moment. It was so rare that she sang songs of love, unrequited or any other kind. But this had come to her and it seemed right that it be sung. Confusion, pain, longing and amazement throbbed in her voice as she sang, and then denial.

"What is this, that screams inside me?

What is this, that makes me feel?

Did I ever ask to have my heart woken?

When did the wound begin to heal?

::

Blood calls to blood

Living within us

Pounding my heart like a drum

Blood calls to blood

My heart calls me to you.

::

What is this, that blinds my eyes?

What is this, that works its will?

Did I ever drop my guard even once?

When did I ask for this magical thrill?

::

Blood calls to blood

Living within us

Pounding my heart like a drum

Blood calls to blood

My heart calls me to you.

::

And I can resist you,

And I can kiss you, pretend I don't mean it.

And I can run, and I can hide

But I can't conceal what's inside.

But I can resist.

I can resist.

I can try.

::

Blood calls to blood

Living within us

Pounding my heart like a drum

Blood calls to blood

My heart calls me to you.

I can resist, but my heart

My heart still calls me to you."

::

The stunned silence was gratifying, as was the applause. Sebastian, she noted, didn't look at all pleased, as she saw him from the corner of her eye. He seemed more angry than anything, his handsome features tightly controlled under her gaze. And then he deliberately looked at her, though she was sure he couldn't see she was watching, and he blew her a kiss.

An angry flush tinted her cheeks even as she lifted her hand in farewell and felt the magic take hold of her. It wasn't easy to make her way through the crowded room without touching anyone. Sebastian didn't make it any easier. He scowled ferociously as she vanished from his sight and turned to look at Dragon.

Tall as he was, his strides towards the warrior mage seemed to eat up the floor. Briar barely managed to get out of his way and take her place behind Dragon. "Where is she Dragon?" Sebastian asked his voice tight with anger. Anakin simply stood behind him, a strange smile playing on his face.

"The Black Rose?" Dragon questioned as if there was some doubt. "She is gone."

"Where?" Sebastian ground his teeth and did his best not to shout.

"She doesn't want anything to do with you." Dragon said in almost gentle tones. "I can't tell you where."

"You protect her." Sebastian observed in intense tones. "You and the boy, sequester her away from folk, why? Because you can't bear to share her other than onstage?"

Dragon seemed almost shocked. "Yes, I protect her, we keep folk from her, but if I had my way, she would walk openly among others. It isn't safe for her." The scars on his face grew white as the rest of his skin paled and then resumed its normal hue. "She isn't my lover. Beauty such as hers has naught to do with the Beast." He said in soft dangerous tones.

It was Sebastian's turn to blink in surprise. "You mean she won't have anything to do with you, simply because you are scarred, yet she allows you to protect her?" Disgust colored his voice and anger strengthened it. "Is she so shallow and unkind as that?"

Dragon looked at the young man and sighed. Part of him wished he could leave the boy with that impression, if it would drain him of desire to meet the Black Rose. But the half elf couldn't bear to have anyone think badly of his friend, and he suspected that nothing would extinguish Sebastian's need to meet with her.

"No, milord." The scarred warrior said finally. "The Black Rose doesn't even see my scars. She only sees her friend and loves him as a brother, as I love her like a sister." He looked at the young nobleman and wondered exactly what was driving him besides the obvious. "Briar is waiting on me. I really must go."

Sebastian touched the man's shoulder, barely missing, though he was ignorant of it, Briar's hand where her grip had been tightening minute by minute. "If I send a message to you and Briar here, you will see that it gets to her won't you?" He asked wondering at the hint of desperation in his voice and immediately releasing Dragon's shoulder.

Dragon's face was inscrutable. "Any message sent to Briar's care, reaches the Black Rose within moments." He replied truthfully.

Sebastian's face illuminated in a beautiful smile. "Thank you."

* * *

><p>Safely in their room finally Briar turned and looked at Dragon. "Why?" She asked heatedly. "By the gods, why did you leave him with a good impression of me? It would have been better if he thought me heartless."<p>

"It is never a good idea to be thought heartless. Especially if you are trying to live as a bard." Dragon pointed out. "Go to bed. You are exhausted."

Briar groaned and did as he said.

* * *

><p>"So, what did you think of her?" Sebastian turned to Anakin as they returned to their table.<p>

"I think that you are right. Her voice and skill is equal to that of my sister, or that of my father's lady. She would not be ranked any less in that company. She is a true bard." Anakin said with that strange smile still on his face.

"Thank you." Sebastian grumbled. "At least I know I have not gone completely insane." He took a sip of his ale and shook his head. "I think that she and the boy Briar are one in the same."

"You're also right about that." Anakin said. His lips twitched and he looked at his nephew shaking his head. "You are truly smitten Sebastian."

"Oh for the love of Selena, I am not!" Sebastian returned hotly. "I admit to an attraction but that is all and it will fade once I have her in my bed, as they all fade, though she is unique among women." He glared at Anakin part of him wondering how true that was. "What are you smiling about?"

"Oh, the simple fact that the entire time you were arguing with her protector, she was standing right behind him." Anakin grinned openly at the other young man.

"And you didn't see fit to tell me this?" Sebastian demanded. "I would have liked to have known."

Anakin shook his head. "She wouldn't have thanked either of us for revealing her presence. Don't you think there's a reason for this elaborate charade she's playing?"

"Since when do you come off all calm and reasonable?" Sebastian snapped. "I swear you become more like Grandfather every day. That's just the sort of thing he would have done to Father."

Anakin rose and the scowl on his face was black. "One comparison per day to my father is all I allow you Sebastian. More than anyone else in this family. You used up your one this afternoon." He clutched his fists and shoved his chair back under the table. "I've got something else to do right now." He began to walk away.

"Don't you mean someone?" Sebastian called at him snidely.

"Shut up Sebastian." Anakin's reply floated back to him and the young man sighed.

"Well if she was standing in front of me the whole time I hope I made her uncomfortable as burr filled britches." He muttered vindictively. He thought of his words but a moment earlier, of his attraction fading once she was in his bed.

He and Anakin were in that way, typical lordlings, if a bit more successful than was typical. The two of them made a game of gaining the favors of the court women. To play the courting game, seduce and enjoy and ultimately tire of a woman was the norm. The beauties they pursued enjoyed the game as much as they and exacted their own price in compliments and tiny gifts before they succumbed to the charms of their pursuer.

Sebastian sighed. He and Anakin, in honor of his mother Sabine and her own ladies, did not pursue innocents with the intention of despoiling them. It was a cruelty that was only forgivable if one was in love with the girl in question, and neither of them ever had been. His mother's ladies, her Court Roses she called them, were not considered on the playing field.

Sometimes he wondered though, what it would be like to introduce a child woman to passion. To see the wonder and delight in her eyes at the sensations her body could be made to feel. To induce passion in her and watch her reach that first blaze of glory. But he knew then later would come the feeling of guilt of he did such a thing, if he had no intention of loving her for any considerable length of time.

He had never loved any woman outside of his family, never felt the slightest bond of affection with someone to whom he was not related. His mother laughed over his adventures among the experienced court ladies and it had been from her that he had learned to leave innocents out of his games. It would take a crueler heart than his to despoil one of her Roses.

He grinned. A few of them though, had come to him, willingly, wanting to share his bed and making no excuses or romantic fantasies to explain the attraction away. It was then he learned that his mother did not guard her ladies virginity, only their hearts.

* * *

><p>Briar woke the next day to find Dragon sitting on the bed across from her own and staring at her solemnly. "What?" She asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"<p>

Dragons sepulchral voice seemed even more serious than usual. The warrior mage had a spellbook open beside him but did not appear to be studying it. "A message came for you first thing this morn." He said nodding towards the small bedside table. "You might want to look at it. It seemed to agitate our innkeeper."

Briar groaned and stretched. "It's probably from that blasted Sebastian." She said in irritation. "Though why he would upset the innkeeper is more than I can fathom."

"If he wishes to meet with you, he could put sufficient pressure upon our host to name where you stay. The innkeeper isn't stupid. He knows that we will move on if you are revealed, but if he is blackballed among the noble set he will lose just as much as if you stop performing, if not more." Dragon observed in his calm sepulchral tones. "We may have to choose another place sooner than we thought."

Briar sighed and nodded her agreement. "Better if we simply bow out gracefully." She said quietly. "Perhaps time to take your advice as well." She suggested to her friends surprise. "To go abroad as a lady adventurer with my blades by day? And as The Black Rose at night? 'Tis one thing to see me onstage from afar, another to confront me by day, flesh and blood and steel." She drew the shining length of the rapier from its sheath and smiled wickedly.

Dragon returned her smile with a grin that was frankly carnivorous. "Now that I would dearly enjoy seeing. You've more than proved your abilities to me." He nodded towards the message scroll. "Now that we've decided on a potential plan of action, will you read the message?"

Briar reached for the scroll and her green black eyes widened as she stared at the seal. "Dragon." She whispered. "This is a seal of the Obarskyrs."

"The who?" The mage asked absently looking up from his text.

"The Obarskyrs, the ruling family of Cormyr!" She replied in strangled tones. "What do they want with me?" She looked at him with huge eyes.

"Open it and find out. If it's good, then you've no worries. If it's bad, we'll make a quick escape." Dragon shrugged.

Briar looked at him in frustration and sighed. Very few situations had the power to disturb Dragon, only people occasionally roused his emotions. In every crisis he was calm and unflappable. It was only after the danger had passed that he allowed himself release of a sort. Usually he went out and got in a grand fight, coming home with bloody knuckles and a ragged grin.

She slipped a finger under the end of the scroll and broke the seal. Taking a deep breath she unrolled the parchment and began to read. "Dragon." She whispered in awe. "I am requested by his highness to give a private performance at the palace today. This afternoon in fact." Dragon looked up sharply and his gaze narrowed in speculation. Her voice continued with a tinge of confusion to it. "He asks that I set aside my guise, leaving Briar behind, to come as myself." She looked up at Dragon to stare at him. "How did he know?" She looked down again and gasped. "It is signed by His Highness, Prince Sebastian Obarskyr."

"Well that explains how he knew." Dragon rumbled. "Anyone who got as close a look at you, as he did yesterday, and then last night, could make the connection. I told you, you make too pretty a boy."

Briar groaned. "Well at least he still doesn't know my name, or what we are truly about. I've no doubt there's a price on my head." She threaded her hands through her hair and rested her head against them.

"No doubt." Dragon agreed dryly. "Perhaps you might turn your attention to how we are going to get to the palace without being noticed? And what did you plan to wear?"

Briar looked at him with an annoyed expression. "No doubt this turn of conversation was meant to keep me from worrying about my status as an outlaw and concern myself with matters at hand? Congratulate yourself Dragon. Now I'm worried about this instead." Her normally sweet voice was dry with irony.

"Anything to help." Dragon murmured, his eyes fastened to his spellbooks and his macabre voice expressing his lack of attention to her words.

**TBC**

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: So we liked the name Anakin and decided that Elaith's son by Amnestria was someone the woman he eventually married had met in her past. Thus we gave Amnestria's son the name Anakin and brought him into Elaith's life.<em>


	3. Chapter 3

**The Black Rose**

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: So I wrote this without dividing it into chapters and now as I'm dividing it up I'm trying to make chapter stops at logical points but some may end up shorter than others. Hopefully you won't get too irritated with that.<em>

* * *

><p>In the end, they did as they'd always done. The boy, Briar, walked with Dragon to the palace, hooded and cloaked. Dragon requested a small room where the bard might ready herself and her instruments for the performance. And Briar changed her clothing and hair more quickly than she'd ever done.<p>

Dragon paced outside the room, in his slow thoughtful way and when he turned again blinked in slow surprise to find Sebastian standing before him. "She is changing." The warrior offered, a mild tone to his sepulchral voice.

"Changing?" Sebastian quirked up an eyebrow questioningly.

"You did not think she could safely come as herself?" Dragon asked quietly. "Not from the inn? We would never have gotten here. No one knows where the Black Rose dwells, it is safer that way."

Sebastian looked at him sharply. "None would harm her surely?"

"Only a few would intend to harm." Dragon eyed the young man with a narrow gaze.

"Of what precisely, do you accuse me, with your dark gaze?" Sebastian asked in tight tones.

"Nothing as of yet." Dragon simply looked at him. "Do you feel you should be accused?"

Sebastian straightened his spine visibly from his elegantly relaxed stance. "When she is ready, you will both be escorted to where she will perform." He informed the other man in a chilling languidly precise voice.

A cold smile curved the warriors lips and he bowed slightly. "As your Highness commands." The title from his lips seemed more of an insult than an honorific.

Sebastian nodded icily and turned on his heel.

Moments after he had gone Briar opened the door slightly. "What on earth possessed you?" She hissed. "Good grief Dragon. He's a prince, he's a thousand times more dangerous than a nobleman. He's worse than Saldan could ever be."

Dragon looked at her. "Is he? He's made no attempt to harm you or I. In spite of the fact that we've both been less than polite." A wry expression tugged at his mouth. "I find myself almost liking the young man."

The swordswoman and bard rolled her eyes. "Only you Dragon." She said with exquisite irony.

* * *

><p>The room they were escorted to was not large considering they were in a royal palace. It was about the size of a family parlor, and in spite of that, still had a ceiling that would not swallow a singers voice, nor awkward corners that made for strange acoustics.<p>

Briar looked around in amazement. It was an exquisite room, appointed with pale violet and delicately gilded white furniture. "How lovely." She murmured in appreciation. She looked at Dragon. "'Tis perfect."

"My father would thank you for the compliment." A familiar voice said from the doorway in the opposite wall. "He had it decorated for my mother after she bore him the twins." Sebastian walked towards them gracefully a cool smile on his angelic face. "She loves music. So he insisted it be a place suitable for a performance, even if only for an audience of one."

Briar turned and curtseyed deeply, remaining so with her head bowed. With a shake of his head Sebastian slipped his hand beneath her elbow and gently compelled her to rise. When her eyes remained cast to the floor he sighed and his fingers carefully pushed her chin upward until she was gazing directly at him. "If you had only spoken with me after a performance, as I had been wont to request, you might have known me before you learned I was royalty." He made a distasteful face and courteously backed away from her.

"And the reason I am to perform privately your Highness?" Briar asked in her light sweet voice.

"For the pleasure of hearing you." Sebastian replied as if it were obvious. "And the hope that we might become friends."

Her face instantly grew cold, all traces of warmth and wonder vanished, and she regarded him with eyes like black ice. "That is not possible your highness. Our stations are such that we could never be friends."

Sebastian looked at her, saw her instant withdrawal and his mouth firmed slightly with stubbornness. Watching Dragon wondered if perhaps Briar had finally met her equal in temperament. "And how are our stations so different?" The prince asked quietly. "You are a woman, of great talent and beauty. I am a man, of some consequence and means, with an appreciation of your qualities. Does anything else matter?" He looked at Dragon and then at the bard. "The two of you are friends are you not?"

Briar looked at him and shook her head. "You are born of nobility." The dark pink of her mouth twisted under the taste of the word. "The highest nobility in the land. There is no common ground with us." Her black green eyes darted to Dragon and then to Sebastian. "Yes. He is my friend. The only friend I have, or ever will have."

Sebastian's dark blue eyes sharpened perceptively at her expression and he looked at her consideringly. "Ever?" He asked quietly. "What of a husband one day? Will he never be a friend to you? Your lovers? Do they not get close to you, seeing your soul in your eyes?"

Briar stared at him in angry shock and after a tense moment took a step backwards. "I will have no husband. I have no lover. I don't believe in love. There is no such thing." She said passionately.

"Oh, do you not?" Sebastian's smile was almost triumphant. "Then what of your words? 'Blood calls to blood/My heart calls me to you'." He asked. "You sing of love, but you don't believe in it? How can you create such music, if you do not know love?"

"I said nothing of love your Highness." Briar said in a halting voice. "I have seen evidence of passion in plenty. But I have seen naught of love." Something almost bewildered ran under her voice and she took a deep breath struggling with her own confusion. "You wished a performance your Highness." She said finally. "Do you still wish it, or was that merely an excuse to draw me here?"

Sebastian smiled, a strangely gentle smile after such an expression of wicked triumph. "Of a certainty I still wish to hear you sing. Because your voice, your music expresses all that you will not allow yourself to admit to feeling."

Briar sighed slightly and slipping her harp case off her shoulder she went to stand where she judged the music would best carry throughout the room. "Have you any requests your Highness?" She asked in her most properly deferential voice.

"Gods yes!" Sebastian said so fervently it seemed like a quiet explosion. "Please stop Highnessing me. My name is Sebastian and it is Sebastian who wishes to hear you sing, not the prince, for the love of Selena."

His voice was so intense that Briar nearly took a step back in spite of herself. But at his lack of reverence for his position she found herself nearly smiling. "But milord, if it is not the prince who wishes to hear me sing, then who commanded me to appear?" She returned and the young man was shocked to see a mischievously dimpling smile on her lips.

"The prince commanded it upon the behalf of Sebastian." He returned with a teasing grin. "Please Lady, call me by my name."

She bobbed a little curtsey and the playful smile lingered about her lips. "As the prince commands, so shall it be Sebastian." Her hands shifted on her harp. "Were there any other requests?"

"Just one for now." He said in a seriously intent voice completely unlike his previous voice. "Tell me your name?"

Briar couldn't help it. She took a breath that was suspiciously like a gasp for air and looked at Dragon helplessly. Finally recovering she looked at Sebastian. Her dark eyes glittered strangely, with secrets and fears and finally she spoke in a hopeful despairing voice. "But you know my name."

Sebastian stared at her and wondered what in the world terrified her so much that she was afraid to tell him her name. There was nothing that he could not shield her from if he chose, barring attempted assassination of his family. Finally deciding there was nothing he could do if he hoped for any sort of friendly association with these two he asked consideringly. "You have two that I know of. They all call you The Black Rose, but you go as a boy named Briar. Which do you prefer?"

"I am used to being called Briar. It is a childhood nickname of sorts." She shrugged helplessly.

"A black briar rose? Those are rare indeed." Sebastian observed just as Dragon had a year ago. "I think it suits your thorny nature though." He smiled trying to put her at ease again. "Will you play now Briar?"

She nodded still trembling slightly and her face was not chilling but sorrowful in its careful lack of expression where before she had all but laughed with him. Sebastian watched as she tuned her harp and wondered if he would get tired of looking at her soon.

For this private, arguably one of the most important performances of her career, she had not chosen an even more flamboyant gown. Instead the black of her hair seemed to melt into the black silk of the gown and only blacker shadows hinted at where her figure rose and fell beneath it. She looked nothing like one would expect of a bard. But without a doubt she looked like The Black Rose.

Then the music began and Sebastian forgot to speculate on her figure or gaze with longing at her face in the wonder of her music.

* * *

><p>Briar finally set the harp down and looked at Sebastian. "I have a performance tonight. I must go if I am to be ready in time." She said in a quiet reminder.<p>

Sebastian looked at her, finally seeing her face again now that her music was silent and noted how Briar had calmed after she'd lost herself in the music. "Briar, what is your real name?" He asked suddenly.

The bard stilled and looked at him and that same terror bloomed in her eyes. "You already know it." She whispered. Rising she set her harp back into its case with trembling hands. Dragon from where he had been leaning against the wall straightened and took the case from her. He turned and looked at Sebastian with such menace that the prince blinked in surprise.

"Yes you said that already, but it would be good to hear it from your own lips." Sebastian said with some irritation. When she simply looked at him and made no move to reply he muttered almost inaudibly in elven. "Stubborn wench."

Both Briar's and Dragon's gaze turned to him quickly and ice practically dripped from Briar's voice. "I beg your pardon?"

Sebastian looked at her in surprise. "Did I speak in Common?" He asked wondering if he was now losing his mind.

"No." Dragon's permanently scarred evil sounding voice told him. "But you didn't have to." He waited for Sebastian to take in that bit of information and with a notable lack of respect bowed. "Have we your leave to go your Highness?"

"Only if you stop calling me that." Sebastian returned absently. "Yes, if you choose of course you may go." He waved his hand languidly towards the door his gaze never leaving Briar.

The bard swept regally from the room, her face chiseled and cold and her eyes snapping with displeasure at Sebastian. As she left and Dragon followed her, a smile crept across Sebastian's face. At least when she was angry with him she was not trembling in fear.

Then a frown crossed his face. She had said again that he already knew her name. Briar could easily have been lying but somehow he didn't believe it to be so. She had been too afraid to be spouting a lie. And unlike he and his mother, she couldn't lie without revealing it in her eyes.

Sebastian leant back on the chaise and considered his options. He could wait for Briar to learn to trust him and confide in him. Or he could find out for himself using other avenues available to him. It was not a difficult decision to make.

He smiled. There was of course the matter of the gift he wished to give her as thanks for this performance. His smile grew to a grin of delight. He wondered what her reaction would be.

* * *

><p>Briar nearly screeched in frustration as she entered her room. "Dragon he's making me insane!"<p>

The warrior looked up without alarm and concealed a smile. In the past two weeks Sebastian had attended every performance of the Black Rose. Sometimes the elf accompanied him but mostly he came alone. He sat at the same table each time, and his behavior was always all that was polite.

During the day however, Sebastian reminded Briar of his interest in her in a thousand different ways. Nothing he did was in any way inappropriate nor could he be considered to be luring her into a seduction. Letters of appreciation arrived the morning after every performance, telling her how much he had enjoyed her music and the thoughts her songs had struck in him.

Invitations to dine, or go walking came closer to midday, and several times an offer to escort her on a shopping expedition if she so chose. This was something Dragon considered particularly brave and noble since Briar was a typical female when it came to shopping.

The invitation to a party at the Elven embassy had been very tempting to the bard but in the end, it had gone the way of all the others. A polite but firm refusal and thanks for the consideration of offering. All of the invitations had been written in the same bold script. Dragon had learned that the writing was Sebastian's own. The prince had quickly written a note to be given to Briar after a performance and given it to Dragon to deliver with his thanks for doing so.

"What has he done now?" Dragon asked curiously.

"He's sent me a gift." Briar said it as if Sebastian had sent a vial of poison with the suggestion she ingest it.

"Certainly cause for incipient insanity." Dragon agreed in grave tones.

"Oh stop it." Briar scolded. "You know what I mean." She looked down at the package she held and set it carefully on the table.

Dragon looked at her consideringly. Briar had ceased to disguise herself as a boy though she never wore a gown during the day. Her hair was tightly braided and coiled around her head and she wore the same utilitarian clothing though a bit more color brightened her garb. And she never left the room without her blades. She was lovely but not feminine.

"Well aren't you going to open it?" The warrior asked mildly.

Briar looked at the package and then at Dragon. "I suppose so." She shrugged setting the package in her lap. Tugging carefully at the ribbon she opened the box and her expression changed so rapidly from delight to anger and confused unhappiness that Dragon wondered what could possibly be within.

Carefully the bard turned and set the case on the bed beside her and took out a scroll that was set within it. Cracking the seal she read the note Sebastian had penned. "Ink that will never spill or run dry. A quill that never need be sharpened. And a book of blank pages that will never end. I could think of nothing more appropriate for someone whose gift seems without limits. Nor could I conceive of anything that could more fittingly express my admiration and appreciation of your performances. May you never lose the music in your heart."

She looked at Dragon. "This is too great a gift for me to possibly accept." She said dully. "Even if it is simply in thanks as he says."

"You suspect him of some other motive?" Dragon inquired carefully.

Briar looked at him wearily. "You do not?" Black green eyes gazed at him while she set Sebastian's gift on the bedside table and carefully coiled the ribbon on top of it. A sigh escaped her as she lay upon her side and curled up her legs regarding him like a child.

"I don't believe it is his only motive." Dragon replied choosing his words with consideration. "He wouldn't be a man if he didn't have the desire."

Briar sighed again and closed her eyes as if she was too exhausted to hold them open any more. Her entire body seemed to go limp, her limbs sinking into the mattress in languid weighted weariness.

To Dragon the knock at the door seemed anticlimactic. Casting a concerned look at Briar he rose to open it.

* * *

><p>Sebastian grinned to himself. He had finally received the gift he'd arranged for Briar and sent it on to her. In the past weeks when he wasn't penning invitations and attending her performances he had been attempting to dig up information on the lady. What he had learned was very little and didn't seem like anything that was damaging or something that would give her cause to fear.<p>

He'd learned that the person she'd asked the elven ambassadors about was an elven male named Vidan Dhu, a bladesinger and bard. And he learned that she had been telling him the truth when she'd said he already knew her name. Anakin had reminded him that the Elven translation of the Black Rose was Rosaleen Dhu. The two kinsman had smiled and Anakin had laughed openly at the play on words when Sebastian had told him that Briar was a childhood name of the lady's.

What he hadn't learned was why she was afraid to tell him her name. Nor had he found the reason why she was looking for Vidan Dhu, though from the same surname he believed the man to be a relative of sorts. Anakin had slyly suggested that the man was her husband and been on the receiving end of such a hostile look that he had quickly recanted his words.

Trying to keep his pleased smile from looking smug the young man knocked on the door the innkeeper had assured him belonged to the Black Rose.

When it opened he found himself looking not at Briar but at Dragon's menacing face. Truly the warrior and mage couldn't help the fact that his face was threatening even when he was smiling, but the effect was a bit disconcerting nonetheless. The older man stepped out of the room and shut the door firmly behind him.

"Exactly what did you intend by that gift?" The rasping voice inquired.

"To express my appreciation for the private performance she gave. And to show her how much I delight in her music." Sebastian replied in just as hushed a voice. "I would have given it to her immediately after but I wanted it to be something special just for her and this was the soonest it could arrive. Why?" He folded his arms in a manner so unconsciously arrogant that Dragon nearly ground his teeth.

"Because the effect was one I could have predicted had you thought to ask." Dragon snarled.

"And why would I ask for your opinion or permission before I sent an extremely talented bard and a beautiful woman besides, a gift?" Sebastian returned coldly.

"Because I hold the position to which you claim to aspire." Dragon rasped out his eyes glittering.

"And what position is that exactly?" Sebastian gritted the words out anticipating the worst in spite of what Dragon had said before of his friendship with Briar.

"Her friend." Dragon growled. "Or were you not completely forthcoming about what you wanted from her." He eyed the young prince with a slitted gaze.

Sebastian's posture changed abruptly from defensive to that of a confused young man. His hands pushed through his curly hair ruffling it wildly. "I want her friendship, but I wouldn't be human if I didn't hope for more than that." He said quietly.

Dragon smiled, the expression lighting his face. "And here I thought, like myself, that you weren't quite human." His gaze flicked humorously at Sebastian's ears which were slightly pointed. He gestured towards the door. "You've got your work cut out for you. She's had a lot of practice avoiding exactly what you're hoping for. Successfully I might add." He nodded with relaxed respect, tilting his head towards the closed door and walked down the hall towards the common room.

* * *

><p>Briar heard the door open again and her body seemed to sink further into the mattress. She didn't even open her eyes as she said quietly. "Thank you. Who was it?"<p>

Sebastian looked down at her silently for a moment realizing that this was the first and possibly the last time that he had seen her unguarded, her expression naturally weary, but warm and alive. He kept his eyes on her face watching for the change he knew would come at the sound of his voice. "It was me." He said quietly.

Her entire body seemed to freeze, her expression tensing into the cold sculpted mask he was beginning to hate. Her eyes opened slowly and she sat up on the bed, rising deliberately until she was facing him. "I don't recall giving you leave to enter." She said coolly. "But perhaps it is a good thing you invaded my privacy, for I can return your extremely inappropriate gift. I cannot accept something so valuable."

Sebastian's eyebrows shot up incredulously. "You didn't like it?" He asked whimsically determined that he would not let the annoyance he felt creeping up get the better of him.

"That is besides the point." Briar snapped. "It is too valuable of a gift for me to be able to accept it. It is inappropriate."

"On the contrary." Sebastian said in his smooth languid voice. "It is extremely appropriate. You'll never know how much I valued your performance, how greatly I think of your music. How can you say the gift is too valuable when I consider what you gave me beyond price?"

"Your Highness is too kind. I must thank you then, for such a thoughtful gift." Briar's words, ground out through clenched teeth, were in content if not tone the epitome of courteous gratitude.

"Sebastian." He reminded her gently. "Your parents should be complimented on how thoroughly you were taught common courtesy." Dark blue eyes gleamed beneath golden curls with a wickedly amused gaze.

"My family would thank you." Briar said stiffly. "Though I cannot help but wonder at your intentions in giving me such a gift." She stared at him through eyes like black ice.

"My intentions?" Sebastian tried not to look completely surprised. He thought he'd been walking a fine line between obvious and subtlety.

"I am well aware that when such attention is paid to someone of my station by someone of yours that usually the friendship you try to claim is not the only goal." Briar said coolly.

"So you judge me, and my supposed intentions without even getting to know me or learning what I may truly be about? Perhaps I complimented your manners too soon." Sebastian was almost surprised to hear a true spark of anger coloring his normally controlled carefully bored sounding voice.

"I compare your actions to those I have seen in the past." She returned lifting her chin defiantly. "You do not know me, nor do you intend to get to know me. The friendship you wish to begin is only the first step of my path to your bed." Her words were clipped and her expression guarded.

"I beg your pardon?" Sebastian said dangerously. "I have tried over the past weeks to seek your company, in an effort to get to know you. You have denied me at every turn. It is you who doesn't wish my friendship, not the other way around. And as for leading you to my bed," he paused lowering his voice which he had unconsciously begun to raise with anger. "Yes, I had hoped in time we might be more than friends. I'm a man Briar, and you're a beautiful woman. I'd be dead if I didn't desire you. But the ice of your heart is rapidly quenching that fire."

"Thank the gods for small favors! You have been trying to seduce me at every turn your Highness." She shot back crisply. "Just like every other nobleman who has gotten a good look at my face." The bard's mouth tightened with some memory and then her gaze flicked back at Sebastian. "The only difference is that you are much more subtle and gentlemanly in the way you go about seeking what you want." The voice she used to devastating effect on stage was shaking with anger. "The difference in our station is too great for there to be anything more than that between us. You are nobility. I am the furthest thing from it."

"So my mother said to my father at one time." Sebastian nearly smiled at the thought of the woman who'd bore him. "Yet now she is queen."

"Your mother is special." Briar returned. "Her Majesty has a purity of heart and soul that surpasses rank."

"It wasn't always so." Sebastian said softly. "There was a time when she was looked down upon more than you could possibly understand."

Briar looked at him coldly. "Do not make such a presumption your Highness." She breathed as if afraid she would scream. "You know nothing of me, or my relation to the nobility." As before, her mouth twisted with contempt at the word.

"What was his name?" Sebastian ground the words out, trying with all his might to not shout. At her look of complete surprise he repeated. "The name, of the man who did this to you, if only to curse him for hurting you so badly that you judge every man by him."

He wasn't prepared for the look of fear that immediately sprang into her eyes or the desperate cast that tinged her expression. The analytical part of his brain immediately went to work on what this meant while the gentler part of him his mother claimed came from his father wondered how to calm that fear.

"His name?" She repeated quietly, the anger that had boiled under her voice and fueled her body suddenly draining out of her. "So that someday in anger or indifference towards me you may send me back there to die?" The half elven woman's voice was cold and dead sounding, not through her bardic control but from a lack of it.

"You must know that I would not do such a thing to you my lady." Sebastian said quietly.

"How can I milord?" She asked him. "You ask for such great things of me. Trust, friendship, one cannot exist without the other. And both of them could mean my life."

"I suppose it is a great thing to ask." He said consideringly. "As much for you as it is for me." He reminded her.

"Trust?" Briar looked at him incredulously. "Gods! How is trusting me dangerous to you? Oh, that's right, you want me in your bed, there's always a danger I'll stick a dagger in your back." She rolled her eyes. "You're just as bad as Saldan ever was, you use charm and guile whereas he—" She stopped suddenly and dropped her head into her hands. "My apologies your Highness."

"Whereas he?" Sebastian repeated. Not receiving any response he almost smiled at the insult, realizing that he was getting to her, backward progress, but progress of a sort. "I'm as bad as he is? I wouldn't hurt you Briar." He tilted his head. "Or should I call you Rosaleen?" Her black head jerked up, terrified eyes stared at him and he immediately regretted his abrupt way of telling her he knew her name. "You can trust me you know." He said quietly. "I have no intention of harming you." He looked down at her almost kindly. "Will you tell me?"

Rosaleen stared at him and took a deep breath. Part of her insisted that this was madness. He was the highest nobility in the land, he couldn't be trusted. The other part felt she had no choice, sooner or later he would learn it, she may as well tell him herself. "He is Saldan, lordling of Serendal." She said coldly. "Surely you've heard of Serendal, the Bastards of Serendal?" She asked. "You might also be familiar with the price on my head."

Sebastian stared at her. Serendal was a holding in Northern Cormyr. The lord had properly sworn loyalty to the crown and had nothing to do with any of the hostilities. He was, as nobles went, minor and ran his land like a feudal lord, believing in taking responsibility for his folk as if they were children and he the head of the family. The previous lord, from all the stories had been a man with a lust for life and women that rivaled his Uncle Drakkar's. He'd sired five bastard children and one legitimate son and raised all of them together. The prince frowned. If he remembered correctly though the family was human. Briar was obviously of elven ancestry as well.

"I have heard of the family." He said slowly. "But not of your place within it." He looked at her. "I've heard nothing of you being declared an outlaw."

Briar looked at him and wondered exactly how much she dared to confide. Not everything she concluded, but something. "My grandfather sired five sons and one daughter. The daughter was off an elven woman he was infatuated with and when she bore him a child she gave it to him to raise, that he might have something of her. I am the daughter of his half elven daughter. The bastard of a bastard." She said simply. "So you see, according to the laws of our country, I am nothing. And it is not appropriate for there to be even simple friendship between us."

"My mother was born out of wedlock and my father still married her. She rules the land that once thought her nothing." Sebastian remarked looking at Briar and thinking that there was more than a bit of elven blood in her. Even without her ears showing she looked more elven than his three quarters elven mother did.

"Your mother is an exception to the rule." Briar retorted. "The Queen is special. Besides, from what I have heard, she was born to nobility even if she wasn't born in wedlock."

"Well I won't argue that she's not special." Sebastian agreed. "But my point is that there are always exceptions to the rule." He kept his gaze on her consideringly. "Elves tend to consider all children born to be valued, not only the ones that are born in wedlock. Elven marriages are rare."

Briar looked at him and shook her head with a sigh. "I am losing patience Sebastian, what little I had to begin with. What are you trying to get at?"

"The truth." He told her as if it was obvious. "Which you are not telling me all of."

"You might as well be asking for blood." Briar grumbled at him in annoyance. Pushing herself up off the bed to wander aimlessly about the small room she said finally. "All right. You want the truth? Fine. You'll get it. But you'll have my life in your hands Sebastian, and if I end up back on Serendal lands I'll know exactly who put me there." She glared at him as if it was his fault. "I'm trusting you, more than I ever wanted. Just so that you know."

Sebastian held up his hands as if in surrender. "I am honored," He said smoothly.

She shot a glance at him as if she suspected him of mocking her. "My mother is Merrila, my father some elf named Vidan Dhu, and I was born almost sixteen years ago. I've been trained with blades, bow and dagger, made into a warrior since my father was a great one and it was thought to be the best way to secure a place for me at Serendal. I made the mistake of dressing for dinner in a gown one night. I played the harp. The next day Saldan began pursuing me. No one I trusted could truly help me, since we were all bastards it was commoner 'gainst noble.

And I learned that the lord and his wife were planning to marry me off to some lecherous lord, claiming I was wild because of my elven blood, but in the meantime they had no intentions of intervening between their son and myself. He could do as he wished with me. It was said that since I spent so much time training with men that I had probably lost my maidenhead long ago. Therefore, what harm could it do to let Saldan have me?"

Sebastian ground his teeth but managed to remain silent. His eyes were dark and unreadable when she glanced at him and he nodded for her to continue. The thought of someone deliberately turning a blind eye to what would be rape infuriated him. The idea that the one who should have been protecting her had left her helpless against threats of this sort disgusted him. It occurred to him that horsewhipping the lord of Serendal might be too good for the son of a bitch in question.

"Saldan managed to catch me with only one companion finally, and he ordered her away from me. She went, since she had no choice and he tried to force himself on me." Briar spoke woodenly trying to keep the memory from being felt again. "Selena smiled on me for I managed to fight him off, and I ran for the courtyard where my uncle the weaponsmaster was training. I wanted to challenge Saldan to a duel but before I could Saldan challenged me." She took a deep breath. "The duel was to first blood, but Saldan didn't want to end it there when I won. He tried to keep fighting. I had my blade to his throat when he finally stopped. His father was standing behind me."

Her voice grew drier. "Lord Serek of Serendal was not pleased to have his son's face laid open by my blade. He confined me to my room until he could determine a suitable punishment for me. I escaped. I ran. I have been running ever since."

Sebastian with an effort controlled the urge to draw her into his arms and comfort her, suspecting she wouldn't thank him for that at this point. In a tight voice that concealed the aching in his heart he asked. "And where was your father through all of this?"

Briar looked at him in surprise and shrugged. "My mother and father were lovers but she said not 'in love' whatever that means. He left the keep one day, to hunt and left four things behind. His bow, his flute, a pendant and me unborn and unknown in my mother's belly. He disappeared. No one knows what happened to him. So I am looking." Her eyes hardened and she said in annoyance. "Are you satisfied now?"

"That you've finally trusted me and now I can help you?" Sebastian remarked. "In a way. Do you regret telling me, my lady?"

Briar's mouth twisted and she shrugged. "I'm annoyed that I've told you. No one else knows but Dragon. And I just finished explaining to you that I'm not a lady."

"So now you have two friends who would like to help you instead of one." Sebastian pointed out with a smile, ignoring her refusal to claim the honorific.

It was the smile that tipped Briar over the edge. "So help me, if you do not remove yourself and your smug face I will not be responsible for my actions Sebastian." She snapped angrily.

"But how can I bask in the reflected glory of your beauty if I leave my lady?" Sebastian countered slyly. His use of the title was deliberate, hoping that if he infuriated her that the memories of her lordly half cousin would be burned away with rage for the moment.

Briar uttered a shriek of frustration and actually slammed the door on her way out of the room. Sebastian remained where he was looking around and wondering how two people could stay in a place so small. After a moment she charged back in. "Wait a minute. This is my room. You get out!"

"But my lady, I cannot tear myself away from you." Sebastian teased, with a wicked smile on his face.

The ringing sound of steel was a bit of a shock as the elegant female he'd been baiting pulled her rapier and main gauche and pointed both at him in a classic position of beginning battle. "Don't my lady me Sebastian." She gritted out.

"You would draw steel on your prince?" Sebastian asked mildly looking at the professionally held blades with slight alarm.

"No," She explained crisply. "I would point my blades at Sebastian, not my prince, since you have explained to me that the prince has nothing to do with this and it is Sebastian who is trying to drive me insane." Her voice had risen throughout her small speech and she regarded him with snapping eyes.

Sebastian laughed aloud in delight at how she turned his own words against him and bowed. "As you will Briar Rose." He got in one last parting shot before he slipped past her and out the door. "I will see you tonight." Her shriek of frustration followed him down the hall as he left and he couldn't help grinning at Dragon as he passed the warrior on the way out of the inn.

8888

Briar took her place onstage and regarded her audience for a moment before she lifted her flute to her lips. As he had been for the past two weeks Sebastian sat before her, this time with his elven friend. He had sent a note to her before the performance inviting her to dinner afterwards and she hadn't replied yet.

As always she lost herself in the music and when it was time for her to disappear she raised her eyes to Dragon in back and gave a tiny shake of her head. Taking a deep breath she looked down at Sebastian and instead of raising her hand in farewell extended it towards him.

Sebastian stared at her in shock for a moment and then good manners took over and he rose, assisting her from the stage. He stood there still holding her hand until she quirked her eyebrows up at him questioningly. That small movement seemed to pull him back from wherever his thoughts were. With a smile that was still slightly bemused he turned and said smoothly. "Anakin, may I introduce the Black Rose, she has given me permission to call her Briar."

His uncle looked at him with mild surprise but merely smiled nodding to Briar. Inwardly he wondered if Sebastian completely realized what he was doing. The formality of his introduction was not in keeping with a man whose intentions toward a lady were dishonorable. With a mental shrug he waited to be introduced to the lady, for she was clearly a lady no matter her lack of honorific.

"Briar, I would like you to meet Anakin Moonflower Craulnober, my mother's half brother and my uncle." Sebastian said in his languidly casual voice. "I take it that you have finally accepted one of my dinner invitations?" He cocked his head to the side speculatively.

Briar curtseyed deeply as she heard Anakin's name and wondered exactly what Sebastian was doing. She was not the usual person one formally introduced to a relative, especially not the elf who, if rumor spoke correctly, was a potential heir to the Cormanthor throne. Raising her eyes to Sebastian's she said quietly. "I realized you were right. I was not giving you a chance to be my friend by constantly refusing your company. I apologize. It was unfair."

Sebastian barely kept himself from goggling and Anakin grinned openly. "Lady Briar, it was a great honor to meet you." The elf said quietly. "But I have another appointment this evening, and I'm sure the two of you will get better acquainted with a bit of privacy." He bowed gracefully and politely to them both, availed himself of Briar's hand and bestowed a kiss upon the back of it in the elegant manner he could only have learned from his father.

Briar watched him go with a small smile and an amazed shake of her head. "You seemed surprised." She observed. "Did you think I would turn you down yet again? Even after this afternoon?"

"The thought had crossed my mind." Sebastian admitted. "Since you've had no difficulty in declining an invitation before." He held a chair for her and aided the bard in seating herself. As he took a seat across from her the prince grinned. "Normally Anakin and I eat here before we go on to separate engagements. If you would prefer we could go elsewhere."

Briar shook her head. "Not at all. I'm familiar with the fare and it suits my appetite perfectly. I tend to eat like a horse." She said wryly. She waited until one of the serving maids had stopped by their table ascertained their orders and disappeared again before she spoke. She met his eyes and smiled slightly. "You're still wondering why I accepted."

Sebastian nodded his self mocking smile delightfully irreverent. "After two weeks of being refused I'm trying to determine what I did differently that I can repeat it and be rewarded with your company again." He told her.

"Well, I want to know about you now." She said quietly. "You heard a scaled down version of my life story this afternoon Sebastian. Turn the tables and tell me yours."

Sebastian for the second time in the space of a half hour found himself staring in shock. "You want to what?" He wondered if he'd heard correctly. He never talked about himself. The women he pursued, he encouraged to talk about themselves because he could learn more about them and if a person is being listened to they feel cared about. And much of his nature was like his mother, reclusive and secretive when described politely. It had never been in him to be forthcoming about himself.

"Sebastian, tell me about yourself. I know very little about you." The bard said simply. "For instance…what is it like to have so many siblings?" She smiled encouragingly at him.

"Loud at times." Sebastian's lips jerked into a smile. "I have two older sisters and one older brother. Morgana is the oldest, Andreas and Lorelei the twins and Andreas is the elder of the two. And I have one younger sister, Asrai Aelaitha." Briar looked at him curiously and nodded obviously waiting for him to elaborate. Sebastian found himself talking of what they were like and what he thought of them. How Morgana was so serene and gentle but strong still. Andreas, so much like his father that the only thing Sebastian felt they had in common was family, country and their complete adoration of their mother. His irritation with Lorelei and her petulant, yet adorable ways. And how protective they all felt towards their baby sister Asrai, who was so intent on her own path.

Briar smiled at him when he wound down and quickly asked another question after their meal arrived. "What is it like to have a father Sebastian?" She queried. "I have four uncles but no father. Is it different?"

Sebastian's mouth quirked up wryly. "I imagine it's different in every family. My father is…it's hard to explain." He looked down for a moment and then up into Briar's dark gaze as she waited patiently. "We mostly call him Dad, or in my case 'your Royal Majesty' when I'm angry. He's harder on Andreas, I think because Andreas is like him and he's also the Crown Prince. He knows my brother has a tough job ahead of him and he wants to prepare him for it. So far no one else has shown signs of being suitable to rule." He said offhandedly. "Dad's loosening up a bit finally as we get a bit older. Figuring out I guess that some things we have to learn for ourselves."

"You've told me how he is with your brother, but what is he like with you?" Briar asked curiously. "The same?"

The prince looked at her and shook his head. "No, not at all." He thought a moment. "Dad's in some ways more strict, and sometimes looser with me. He's always doing his best to remind me that I have obligations because of my station. But he never gets angry when he catches me slipping out of them, or acting like Mother."

Briar propped her chin on her hand, resting an elbow on the table and smiled. "Why do you think that is?"

Sebastian chuckled. "Well, if Andreas is a lot like Dad, I'm a lot like Mother." An affectionate grin spread over his face. "Whenever he catches me sneaking out or into a place, or knowing something I shouldn't, or I'm motivated solely by my curiosity, he laughs and says I'm my mother's son." The dark gaze that had gazed so intently into his memories softened. "Every time they're together, we can all see how much he adores her, and she him. I don't think they know how to live apart."

"Does he catch you a lot?" The bard tilted her head at him inquiringly.

"Not nearly as often as I do things." He replied with a cocky grin.

"Are you close to your mother?" She asked softly, remembering hers. "What is she like?"

Sebastian smiled warmly thinking of his mother. "We all started out calling her Momma, and sometimes we still do. But when we got older, I started calling her Mother, because it seemed to me that it would show her how much I respected her and loved her to call her by a name that was also a title." He grinned. "She nearly cried the first time I did it, and when I asked her why she said it was because I was growing up."

Briar frowned in confusion and Sebastian's smile grew wider. "Mother and I are very close. When I don't want to do something she's the one who reminds me that it is my duty, without making me feel as if I'm being forced into it. She's warm and loving one minute and in an instant she can become cold and calculating and you can't even see my Momma through the mask she wears. Her music speaks of all the things she hides in her heart and she's so easily hurt sometimes by those she loves. And the saddest thing is that she always expects it. She knows us so well, she knows that we all will hurt her, intentionally or not and she loves us anyway."

The bard smiled at his description and Sebastian took a deep breath. "Mother and I understand each other. Dad said once that looking at me was like seeing a masculine version of my mother's face, with his own eyes. Funny, with Asrai it's the opposite. She has a prettier version of Dad's face and Mother's eyes in it."

Briar nodded her understanding and smiled as she looked at Sebastian's face. "I've never seen her Majesty and what I've heard has been through song and story. I know she is a good queen, from a subject's point of view." Her fingers tapped thoughtfully against her lips and she stared at him consideringly. "What is it like, to grow up with knowing you might end up being a king someday?"

Sebastian replied instantly. "Like a smotheringly wet quilt that presses over your face." He made a distasteful face. "It's maddening. And in some ways humbling, that by an accident of birth we can become responsible for a nation. I would give a great deal to not have been born a kings son." He looked down a moment. "But trite as it sounds, I've never regretted being born to my mother and father. I like being their son. I just wish he wasn't king."

The half elf nodded her understanding. "I know what you mean." Her dark pink mouth quirked in a half grin half grimace. "Sebastian, what about your friends, what are they like? I only ever see you with Anakin, or alone."

"Well, I, umm…" Sebastian hesitated. "I don't have any." He admitted. At her expression of shocked sorrow he explained. "A courtier, which is what I'm most suited for, with the intrigue of a court, doesn't make friends. I'm surrounded by family, and pretty friendly with most of them. But I don't have friends outside my family."

"But you're always out among people." She protested.

"I'm always out yes." Sebastian agreed. "But even among all these folk I am alone. They know of me, or who I am, and they know to leave me alone. They don't refer to me by my title, or approach me. I am alone, it's in my nature. I come by it honestly enough." He said thinking of his mother and her past. The first friend she'd ever had his mother had said once had been his father.

"Sebastian, you know the reasons I trust no one, and yet even I have a friend in Dragon." Briar said in an almost dazed voice. It was so hard to believe that this personable, extremely charming man didn't have any friends.

"Well then you are one up on me." Sebastian said. "You have one friend."

Briar stared at him and said quite deliberately. "No." And when he looked at her in surprise she told him quietly. "Now it seems I have two, and you finally have one."

Sebastian stared at her in shock. To have her put it so baldly, that he was her friend, and thus, now he had a friend of his own, had a disturbing effect. For a moment, everything became surreal, he couldn't hear the noise of the common room, except mutely, the room around them was a blur. He could only stare at her in amazement.

"Sebastian, why are you so surprised?" Briar asked him softly. "It was you who first offered friendship to me. Didn't you realize that it's a river that flows both ways?"

Sebastian blinked finally and the world around them assumed its normal flow and sound. "I suppose it didn't occur to me that you would be my friend."

Briar smiled. "Well think about it." She said and began to rise. "It is late and I must go. Thank you Sebastian, for a lovely end to the evening." She extended her hand for him to grasp and shake and was surprised when he grasped it and rose more quickly than she'd ever seen him move.

"You're very welcome." He told her, holding her hand in his, he pressed his lips to her cheek in a gentle kiss.

Briar looked at him in complete shock. "Sebastian…I don't think friends do that." She said moving away. "Dragon and I don't…"

"Don't kiss?" Sebastian asked. "But I am not Dragon. Surely if people are different the friendship is as well?"

"I don't…" Briar shook her head. "Good night Sebastian." She gently pulled her hand from his and walked quickly away from him, inexplicably feeling the mark of his lips burning into her flesh.

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Black Rose**

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><p><em>Author's Note: So originally, I was going to post this without a note and then I realized you would meet some new people in this chapter. Some you might recognize as definitely not mine. Elaith Craulnober was originally conceived by Ed Greenwood and was nurtured and grown by Elaine Cunningham. My husband and I loved the character blatantly kidnapped him and married him off, deciding that he deserved some happiness so in our world he's married with children.<em>

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><p>Dragon looked up as Briar entered their room. He'd never seen her look like this, dazed and dreamy eyed. His gaze narrowed. "Briar did you enjoy dinner?" He asked in a carefully neutral voice.<p>

"It was very nice." She answered absently. She moved behind the screen and put on her nightshift. Sitting down on her bed she stared into space.

"Briar are you all right?" Dragon was slightly concerned but also amused. His friend acted as if she was floating.

"He kissed me, on the cheek." She stated faintly, as if she wasn't used to the idea yet herself.

Dragon blinked and tried to think of what to ask. He didn't want to kindle outrage in Briar due to his own shock. "Did you mind?" He finally asked in a hesitant voice.

Briar frowned in consideration, her eyes vaguely puzzled. "I can still feel his lips on my skin." She said very softly.

Dragon concealed his amused smile. "Go to bed Briar." He ordered gently.

Briar nodded and pulled the covers up. Her expression said that her mind was still examining the events of the evening and her hand touched the cheek Sebastian had kissed as if to test for marks.

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><p>Sebastian found himself walking at an unusually urgent pace towards his grandfather' house. One of the footmen let him in as he was leaving for the night. Elaith Craulnober had mellowed to the point where he allowed two servants to live in the house, the cook and one maid. Any other staff lived off the premises. Elaith liked his privacy and he also enjoyed his lady's tendency to wander about unclothed.<p>

Sebastian shivered as he walked through the public part of the house. The gray and scarlet and black of the ground floor was chilling in its effect and he had no doubt it was intended to be so. His grandfather was a man of many parts, just as his daughter Sabine was, and now her son Sebastian. It was still a bit disconcerting though, to realize that the man who so adored his grandchildren was also capable of looking completely at home in a décor designed to remind one of ice and blood.

The stairs to the second floor were for family only and no one else could even open the door that led to them. Sebastian walked up them and knocked on the subtly carved door politely.

Unusually enough his grandfather opened the door and Sebastian grinned into Elaith's eyes. "Sir." He greeted him. "Good to see you."

Elaith smiled at his grandson. "Sebastian." He stepped aside gesturing for the boy to enter. "Since your visits to me are usually at an hour more suited to social calls I take it you are here to see Anakin?" His cool elegant voice was laced with irony but his amber eyes twinkled with amusement.

"You are as always correct in your assessment of the situation Grandfather." Sebastian nodded, in his customarily relaxed voice. "Is he available?" Elaith rolled his eyes and Sebastian chuckled. "I take it you believe he should be but he considers it otherwise?"

His grandfather grinned wickedly. "He came home in such an energetic mood that in order to keep him from pacing and dancing about above our heads Shen challenged him to a match. I'm sure it ended after about five minutes but she hasn't come back down. Since it is against my policy to invade Anakin's rooms uninvited I will not go up and demand the return of my lady. However you have a standing invitation." His eyes gleamed as he looked at Sebastian.

"So if I go up and interrupt them, Lady Shen will most probably come back down and you will be able to enjoy her company again." Sebastian grinned. "What would you have done if I hadn't come by?" He dared to tease the older and extremely dangerous elf.

Elaith's grin was positively wicked, looking amazingly like Sebastian's own. "She can feel my desire for her company. My lady is not so unkind as to force me to wait beyond reason. Her definition of reason and mine differ slightly though."

Sebastian smiled slyly. "Ahh… You just want what you want when you want it." He stated.

Elaith smiled. "When it comes to Shen, yes, decidedly so."

* * *

><p>Sebastian took the steps at a light run, easily ascending the two flights to the large attic which Anakin had claimed as his own. The eclectic, elegantly unfinished décor reminded Sebastian of a hunting lodge. Knocking on the door he opened it to see his grandfather's wife lying on a couch with Anakin pacing energetically in front of her.<p>

The elven woman turned amused eyes toward Sebastian and the young man was once again struck by the impact of her face. Both his grandfather and Shen were moon elves or silver elves, but his grandfather's coloring was like that of the moon, silver and gold. His wife's coloring was more of the earth, and the two of them together were a delightful contrast.

Anakin's gaze was pulled from Shen's face to Sebastian and he exclaimed in surprise. "Sebastian, what in the world are you doing here. I would have thought you…" he realized the inappropriateness of his intended words and stumbled to a verbal halt. Looking at Shen again he just shrugged and finally asked Sebastian. "What happened?"

Sebastian took a deep breath. "I need help." He said baldly.

Anakin's eyes widened sensing that he could truly enjoy baiting his nephew before Sebastian lost his temper. "Help?" He asked. "The lone prince, the mighty Sebastian, he who needs nothing and no one, is asking my lowly self for help?" Sebastian ground his teeth and folded his arms waiting. Anakin continued gleefully. "Did some lass tell you that a spell failed her and in nine months you'll have an heir? Is a father after you with a long sharp sword for taking his daughters honor? Are you being forced into a wedding?"

"Anakin, I'm being serious." Sebastian ground out through his clenched teeth.

"Well I agree, if you're being forced to marry at swordpoint, it's quite serious." Anakin went on cheerfully. "You could always appeal to your father I suppose." He said thoughtfully. "Once he was over his apoplexy I'm sure he'd be overjoyed at being made a grandfather. After all, heirs are important. And you are continuing the Obarskyr line if not in the most legitimate of fashions. He might even help you pick out your wedding clothes."

"Anakin, enough." Sebastian said in clear clipped tones. "Or should I go back down and ask your father for advice instead of yourself?"

Anakin glared at him and began a retort and then looking at his stepmother shut his mouth. "Well you're improving Anakin." Shen said with a smile. "If you can manage to keep your mouth shut in the face of such provocation." She looked at Sebastian. "I can feel my lords need for me, so if the two of you will excuse me?"

Sebastian bowed from the waist and summoned a smile. "We will be desolate without your presence." He said as he rose.

Shen smiled at him sunnily as she rose from her prone position on the couch. The sheer quality of her emerald silk gown became more obvious as she moved past Sebastian towards the door. "Good night you two. Sebastian, if the help you need involves the guard they had better not disturb my lord Elaith and I while we are in conversation." She said in mild threat as she left the room.

Sebastian looked at Anakin and the young elf casually stretched out on the couch Shen had just vacated. "So with what did you need help?"

Sebastian sat in one of the overstuffed leather chairs that were scattered throughout the attic. "Are you through making jokes?"

Anakin make a mock considering face. "I think so yes." He said finally.

Intensely blue eyes stared into the elf's cornflower blue eyes. "How do you be a friend Anakin?"

Anakin blinked, looked at his nephew and then shook his head. "What?"

"What does a friend do?" Sebastian burst out. "How do you be a friend to someone?" He threw his hands up and sprawled back in the chair. "You're probably the closest thing I've got to a friend, even if we are related. But I have no notion as to how I should begin with someone I'm not even remotely connected to."

The elf concealed a grin behind his hand. "So you didn't take her to bed, somehow you managed to get stuck at the lets be friends stage that's a preliminary to falling into bed." He shook his head. "You must be slipping Sebastian. Normally you'd have the girl swept off her feet, writhing in passion and you'd be bored already. And moving on to another challenge."

"Anakin, Briar isn't just a challenge, though I admit freely that she does challenge me, at nearly every turn." Sebastian retorted. "She's finally letting me into her life as something other than a member of the audience. And I don't have the foggiest idea how to act."

Anakin sighed. "Look Sebastian. In my experience a friend is someone who thinks of another's welfare first, before his own. A friend genuinely listens to another's thoughts and concerns. A friend tries to help. A friend tries to make the other person feel good."

"Why do I sense a qualifier behind your words?" Sebastian said dryly.

"Because there is one." Anakin told him. "Friends don't try to use the other person for amusement. Friends don't manipulate one another. And they don't make unwanted advances." The elf shook his head. "I know you Sebastian, and I love you, you're my family. But I'll tell you something. If you want to be her friend, you'll have to stop thinking of yourself and think of her, and what she needs from you. Because something tells me that she'll be trying to do that for you."

Sebastian looked slightly hurt. "You really think that I would do that to her?"

Anakin sighed. "Wasn't that what you intended at first? To lure her to your bed for the challenge and pleasure of it? As we've both done with dozens of court ladies?"

Sebastian sighed. "Her voice Anakin. Her voice, her music enthralled me, made me see her from the first. Not just her body, or face or the challenge of seducing her." He murmured almost to himself. "She wouldn't allow me to view her as merely another notch in the bedpost much as I would have liked to do so. And I tried to regard her like that. She's too unique. And because she's unique I'm in this situation."

His uncle looked at him and again forced himself not to smile. "Well what are your intentions towards her now?" He asked.

"I don't know. I want to be her friend, if I can manage it." Sebastian stared up at the ceiling. "I want her in bed with me so badly I can taste it like blood on my tongue." A great sigh escaped him. "I don't know Anakin. I just want her in my life somehow."

"Well at least you can be honest with yourself." Anakin grinned openly. "You know, sometimes a friend makes the other person see what they're missing." Sebastian sat up and stared at the elf. "Not for their benefit but for the other persons. A friend wants the other person's happiness before their own." He tilted his head. "You know that's why I mock you so much Sebastian. Because you get so damn serious sometimes, you act carefree and bored, your voice is always this elegant, casual drawl. You get into these moods where the only way to shake you out of them is to get into a verbal sparing match."

Sebastian grinned at him, his expression lightening for the first time since he'd arrived. "I know why you mock and tease and torment me Anakin. It's just your way of telling me to get over myself." He paused. "I can't honestly think it can be good for Briar to be so isolated. Of course it could just be my own selfishness in needing her so badly."

"You've had Sabine's example of restraint before you all your life. I know you're capable of it. Start practicing some." Anakin reminded him.

"Mother? Restrained?" Sebastian repeated in shocked accents. "Have you seen her around my dad?" He shook his head. "Lorelei gets embarrassed they're so affectionate, or should I say passionate? I think it's damn cute myself." He chuckled.

"Lorelei would be embarrassed by a chaste kiss on the cheek at bedtime." Anakin said in disgusted tones.

Sebastian laughed.

* * *

><p>Three weeks later Sebastian wasn't laughing. He had gotten to know Briar and Dragon much better. Shopping expeditions which he'd expected to hate he'd found himself enjoying much to his surprise. Briar loved to shop but her idea of shopping was to look and then make a purchase later on. So shopping with Briar was like long walks through the shops, talking and laughing, and asking his opinion now and then.<p>

He'd learned, as he had suspected, that the two didn't have a great deal of money and were too proud to accept a gift of coin from him. Not even if it meant a larger room for the two of them, or giving Briar a room of her own.

Much to his frustration Briar kept him at arms length, allowing him only the briefest of physical contact. Sebastian found himself amazed at the intensity of his desire to just hold her hand at one point and finally asked point blank why he could not.

"I'm not used to being touched Sebastian." Briar said very quietly. "My family, my uncles and mother, were loving, but not affectionate in that way. It's disconcerting."

"Do you think you might get accustomed to it?" He forced his voice to remain calm and reasonable, trying with all his might to not sound demanding. "My family is very affectionate. I'm not trying to do anything you don't want Briar, I just want to be able to offer my arm without offending you. I'd like to be able to take your hand and show you something." Earnest blue eyes stared into her own black green ones and he held his breath hoping.

"You make me feel like the veriest scrooge." Briar said with a smile. "I had no idea you needed touching so badly. I will try to get used to it. And if you touch me I won't be offended.

Sebastian nearly smiled at the memory but then scowled. Briar was almost ready to perform, wearing a dress he'd helped her choose. For some reason this made him very proud, like he was more a part of her life, since the dress would be seen publicly. But no matter if Briar had worn the dark green dress he'd seen a dozen times, he still didn't want to see the female who'd sat herself down across from him.

The prince glared at the amber eyed, golden haired female who smiled at him. "What do you want Lorelei?" He growled. "This is a really bad time."

"So this is where you've been spending all of your time." The girl looked around and wrinkled her nose. "I honestly can't see why."

"I'm not in the mood. Go away." Sebastian looked at her appraisingly. The gown she wore was expensive. Her necklace glittered. Her hair was perfect and she looked lovely. Pity she was such a spoiled child.

"Since when have I cared what mood you're in?" She countered.

"True, perception was never your strong point." Sebastian snapped. "But even you can see that you're not welcome here."

"Everyone else seems quite welcoming." Lorelei said sweetly, her smile like chilled honey.

"Go away." Sebastian said forcing himself not to shout. He saw Briar and Dragon enter and their eyes widen slightly at the sight of he and Lorelei. "Too late." He muttered. Miserably he looked at Briar and wondered if she'd talk to him again after seeing Lorelei. And there was no way he could avoid an introduction. So even if Briar still wanted to be associated with him once she learned Lorelei wasn't his mistress, she might not want anything to do with him when she found out they were related.

Dragon's eyes gleamed as he saw the lovely blonde sitting with Sebastian. There was a resemblance, though not a strong one, in their faces. The young man was clearly annoyed and upset with the girl. "Why don't I escort you to them?" He suggested. "Sebastian doesn't look precisely thrilled with the wench."

Briar nodded. "From the look on his face, I don't think she's his mistress." She smiled as they approached and offered Sebastian her hand. "Good evening Sebastian." Her sweet voice was tinged with amusement.

Sebastian stood as she offered her hand and raised it to his lips for a kiss. "Briar." He smiled hopefully. "Dragon, I'd like you both to meet someone." His voice was languidly smooth, concealing his irritation and the hope that they wouldn't mind Lorelei. In a deliberate snub to his sister he introduced her to Briar and Dragon instead of the other way around. "Briar, Dragon, this is my sister Lorelei Obarskyr. My older sister."

Lorelei's face tightened into a polite smile and she didn't rise. Briar's smile in comparison was genuine and she accurately guessed that the two siblings didn't get along and that Sebastian wasn't pleased his sister was here. Sebastian continued with a note of distaste in his voice. "Lorelei, these are my very good friends. The Black Rose, our performer tonight, is Briar. And the rather forbidding gentleman is Dragon."

Dragon for his part nodded curtly to Lorelei and turned his attention back to Sebastian. "I'll leave Briar in your more than capable hands." He said in his rough, evil sounding voice. He smiled slightly at Briar and the prince and turned, walking towards his table without further speech.

Sebastian, for his part, also ignored his sister in favor of looking at Briar and her new gown. "I think it is a success." He said nodding. "You look lovely Briar."

The bard blushed slightly, her white cheeks tinged a darker rose. Try as she might she couldn't get used to Sebastian's sincere compliments, as though he saw more than her beauty. He always seemed to be complimenting what was within her, as though it made her outsides better. "Thank you Sebastian. I admit freely, I would never have thought of this color if not for you pointing it out to me."

He had been right though. The dark red, the color of the darkest briar rose, illuminated her face and contrasted with her eyes and hair. The style was the same as her other gowns, cut to cling to her figure even while it concealed nearly every inch of skin.

She darted a look at the sullenly quiet Lorelei and inquired softly. "Shall I have Dragon make me disappear after the performance?" Her light voice didn't quite conceal her disappointment that they might not be able to dine and talk together afterward.

Sebastian shook his head. "I invited you to dine, and we shall." He said firmly. "But I have detained you long enough I think, though everyone is being remarkably patient with us."

Briar nodded with a smile of delighted relief and her hand slipped from his as she moved towards the stage. She stood a moment and then in a rare occurrence addressed the audience. "I thank you all, for your patience in waiting for the music to begin. Without your enthusiasm the music wouldn't be the same, and so I doubly thank you." Her light voice could be heard throughout the room though she didn't seem to be shouting.

Sebastian smiled up at her and impatiently shushed Lorelei when the girl would have said something. The music began a scant moment later and he was riveted by it until Briar paused, announcing a small rest period, and then retreated to a dark corner by the bar where she herself had a cold glass. When she'd first begun performing, a break hadn't been necessary but as her music grew in popularity the performances grew longer and two breaks an evening were required.

Lorelei eyed her brother petulantly. She didn't understand this fascination with music. She, herself enjoyed music but she didn't fix her attention on a bard and ignore everything else in the room like he was doing. "Honestly, Sebastian," She said in an annoyed tone. "You didn't have to be so rude. Its not like everyone is like you, ignoring everything but the music."

Sebastian came out of the lovely cloud of song with a thud. Resisting the urge to rub his hand over his eyes he sighed elaborately. "Actually, Big sister, if you had looked around or thought about something besides your nails or face, you would have seen that everyone does listen to the music, to the exclusion of everything else."

Lorelei shrugged pettishly. "Whatever. I can't say I think much of your friends." She sniffed. "She's clearly a rustic, she didn't even know to curtsey. And He is beyond rude."

Sebastian looked at his sister and wondered how she'd look turning blue with lack of air. "Dragon doesn't have any use for spoiled noblewomen." He said curtly. "As for Briar, she has beautiful manners. I just get tired of being curtseyed to, and asked her to forget about titles and etiquette when she's with me."

"So she should just ignore it with every person of noble blood as long as you're around?" Lorelei inquired airily. "That could get her in trouble someday Sebastian, what if she forgets her place?"

"There is no danger of that your Highness." The bards light cool voice spoke calmly from behind the princess. Elegant hands set two goblets of wine on the table, and she curtseyed deeply to the blonde girl. "As long as there are Proper noblewomen like you about, I will never forget where I truly belong."

Sebastian caught Briar's hand as she rose from her curtsey and bowed over it. "Thank you for the wine." He said softly. "It will taste all the sweeter now." A wry quirk at the corner of his mouth made the courtly phrase more comical and Briar giggled at him. Somehow a prince mocking a courtiers practiced phrases seemed extremely funny.

"Good." He nodded, and his smile widened. "No matter what anyone says to you Briar. You are never to bow to my family, not like this." The prince looked into her eyes. "You and I are friends. You are equal to me, though being female you're probably superior, bow only to the king and queen. No one else."

Briar stared at him in shock for a moment, his words were gentle and firm at the same time. It was as if he were giving a royal command, but only kindness was the motive. "Yes, milord." She replied automatically and then she grinned at the look on his face. "All right Sebastian. You have a bargain. But I will curtsey if I choose, out of respect to an individual." She qualified her words. "That is the right of everyone."

Sebastian grinned. "Never argue with a bard." He said. "They always have the last word."

"Why are you telling me?" She laughed as she gently slipped away. "I don't talk to myself." She glided elegantly to the stage and took up her harp again.

Sebastian regarded his sister with dangerously glittering eyes but said nothing as once again Briar's music began.

The second break brought his angry glare back to Lorelei's face but before he could say a word his sister apologized. "Though, I should be saying I am sorry to her, not you." She followed her apology with wry words. "I was irritated with you and my tongue ran ahead of my mouth. Gods, I've given her a delightful impression of our family haven't I?" She smiled, a genuine smile this time and hesitantly touched the back of her brother's hand. "I haven't your ear for music, truly I am the family misfit there, but even I can tell she's extraordinary."

She looked at the corner where Briar had settled for her break and then back at her brother. "I think it would be best if I absent myself for the remainder of the evening. Please assure her that no slight towards her is intended." She rose and the exquisite princess turned to the bards corner and deliberately and unmistakably curtseyed deeply and respectfully.

As she rose and turned she inclined her head towards her brother gracefully and without further ceremony swept out of the room.

Sebastian blinked in surprise. "I'd better tell Mother to check her for a fever when I get home tonight." He muttered to himself. She rarely let her family or anyone else see it, but Lorelei had matured from the spoiled brat she'd been. Unfortunately for him she'd retained her joy in baiting her siblings and delighted in discomposing him. And she wasn't picky about how she did it either.

* * *

><p>Sebastian slipped into his rooms as silently as the shadow he could resemble. Not bothering to light a lamp he fell back onto his bed and sighed. He didn't know why, since he hadn't even gotten to kiss Briar, but after he spent time in her company he felt euphoric. Closing his eyes he felt a silly smile creep over his face and strangely he didn't even mind his departure from his normal languidly bored expression.<p>

"Sebastian has a girlfriend." The sickeningly sweet, aggravating sing-song voice was like the grating sound of a sword against granite. "Is my baby brother in love?" The voice dripped with disgusting sweetness.

Sebastian felt his good mood evaporate as his sisters words reached his ears. The languid courtiers mask that was his habitual expression dropped back over his face and he sat up slowly, turning to gaze at his pretty sister. He studied her with eyes like cold ice blue chips. She was beautiful, taking after their grandfather in her coloring, silvery blonde hair and amber eyes, skin as white as their mothers. Too bad any potential husband wouldn't find out what a spoiled little brat she was until after the wedding.

"Are you quite through?" Sebastian drawled. "Shouldn't you be out draining the blood from an unsuspecting victim, like all normal vampires do?"

"Shouldn't you be in some trollops bed?" She returned sweetly. "I'm actually surprised you're home, normally its dawn before you drift in, afraid of daylight are you?"

"Briar isn't a trollop!" Sebastian's voice held more heat than normal. "Though you've the manners of one lately."

"I didn't mean Briar." Lorelei said sweetly. "I meant the woman you're expending your lusts on while you try to seduce Briar. And my manners improve according to the company I keep. You're decidedly low on my list of priorities Sebastian."

Sebastian gave a mock shudder. "Thank the gods for that!" He returned. "At least this way I only have to put up with you once in a while." The younger prince gave her a hard stare. "For your information, there is no one besides Briar, there hasn't been since I saw her."

"Right, and pigs will be swimming up the falls tomorrow. We had better warn the fishermen." Lorelei sneered at him. "When have you been able to control your lusts long enough to court a female? Only as long as it takes to seduce her, which usually isn't very long, but then your taste in women usually isn't very good."

"Well Lorelei, I always make sure that my women don't resemble you in any way, which makes my taste quite good." He shot back. "Quite frankly, I don't care if you believe me or not. And why in the name of Selena's smile are you bothering me anyway? Don't you have some poor fool to torment?"

"Yes, I have you." Lorelei retorted. "A greater fool I've yet to meet." She smiled complacently. "Actually the reason I am bearing your company, difficult as that is, is to remind you that we're leaving for Suzail tomorrow? So I hope you said good bye to Briar and whomever you're keeping on the side tonight."

"I'm not—" Sebastian bit off his words and clenched his fists. "I can't leave now." He ground out the words. "Tell Mother and Father that I'll be there in a week."

Lorelei looked at him strangely. "Since when do you have a choice?" She said smartly. "We all have to go. It's important."

Sebastian sighed. "I know, I know, but I can't leave. I am not going to leave." He stared at her. "And I'm not even going to try and explain it to you. You won't understand anyway."

Lorelei looked at him strangely and shrugged. "Well I'll tell the Parents, and I think we've got a bit of leeway timewise, but if you're not there in a week like you said, I don't even want to contemplate the consequences."

Sebastian smiled nastily. "Well it's my problem isn't it?"

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "Sebastian, you're everybody's problem." She turned and flounced away leaving her younger brother to lie back on his bed and sigh. Time, which had seemed limitless, had just become a problem.

* * *

><p>Almost a week later Sebastian was early for his walk with Briar and heard the ringing of steel as he entered the common room of the inn. Wandering out to the back courtyard he saw his two friends engaged in what looked like a ferocious battle. Neither one appeared to have the upper hand, but both were exhibiting an extraordinary amount of skill.<p>

The prince leant negligently against the doorjamb and watched the two fighting. Briar parried Dragon's thrust and caught a glimpse of Sebastian out of the corner of her eye. "Join us." She called the invitation. Dark green eyes gleamed wickedly with challenge.

Sebastian nodded slowly and his eyes sparkled appreciatively as they traveled over Briar's figure. The girl wasn't voluptuous, lithe was a good way to describe her, but her figure was definitely female. Sebastian smiled slightly. The clothing she wore was simple, almost masculine, and she probably didn't realize it but it was just as revealing as the gowns she wore when she was onstage.

Drawing his sword he started towards them. Dragon wielded a bastard sword, a beautiful jewel hilted creation. Briar fought with a rapier and main gauche with a capability that made Sebastian suspect she'd had more than a little training. His own blade, the long sword his father and then another had taught him to fight with would add an element of the unknown to the sparring session.

The following fight was intense, exciting and to an experienced swordsman, highly enjoyable. Sebastian was breathing hard at the end of it and noted with satisfaction that the other two were as well. Unfortunately, Briar was regarding him with the thoughtful look on her face that he had learned didn't bode well.

Dragon looked at the two of them and with a grin and a wry salute took himself off. Sebastian sat down and looked up at Briar as she sheathed her blades again. "You never mentioned exactly how skilled you are." He said quietly. "You said your uncle was training you but you didn't mention exactly how good you were."

A thin smile slipped across Briars lips. "Strange, you neglected to mention the fact that you are also talented with a blade." She sat down next to him. "Sebastian, what do you do?"

His eyebrows rose curiously. "Do? I do nothing, I am a courtier." The expression of lazy boredom with life masked his face as always. His smile was self-mockingly amused.

Briar turned a cold gaze on him and tilted her head. The sun gleamed on her coiled black braids. "Sebastian, do you really expect me to believe that?" She asked softly. "I know you." Her dark pink mouth curved slightly. "You don't just do nothing."

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Well, that's partially correct." He nodded. "I practice with my blade enough to be competent, I am my mother's son after all. I go about with the court, I go about with Anakin, pay social calls, and I spend each night at the inn listening to you."

Briar's eyes flashed dangerously. "Honestly Sebastian!" She snapped. "Don't insult my intelligence!" She stood up and looked down at him angrily. "Do you really think that I'm stupid?"

"Of course not!" He retorted. "But what can I tell you?"

"The truth Sebastian!" Her voice was low and intense. "You're my friend, supposedly. Try the truth."

Sebastian rose slowly to his feet, for once his seemingly languid movements didn't seem born of laziness or boredom but a controlled aura of danger. "I am your friend, as you are mine." He said in a chilling voice. "You are so intelligent, why don't you think of how I learned about you? Before you told me the truth."

"I want you to tell me." The bard stared at him. "I want you to trust me."

"And with what should I trust you? The secret to my perfect wardrobe?" He returned. "My life is an open book."

"Yes, but written in a language you refuse to translate for me." The half elf looked at the prince her face dark with sorrow and anger. She brushed past him and into the inn looking out from the shadows. "Are you truly my friend Sebastian? Or is it one more game you are playing?" She raised her hand slightly, and then let it fall again. "Think of that, before you come to hear my music. There is only truth in my music Sebastian, I have always tried to give you that." She turned and disappeared inside the inn.

Sebastian sat down again rather heavily and contemplated the many layers of the truth.

* * *

><p>Sebastian brooded in his room that night alone as usual, debating whether or not to attend Briar's performance. She had as much as told him to stay away until he was ready to trust her. He sighed. Perhaps he should simply join his family in Suzail, he would be late as it was.<p>

Rising he paced back and forth before the window opposite his bed, looking out over the city now and then. Somehow he just couldn't bring himself to leave without talking to Briar first. Yet what could he say to her?

* * *

><p>Three nights later Briar returned to her room after her performance and found the rose and a scroll on her pillow. Dragon with his usual astuteness looked at her face and patted her hand before he retreated down to the taproom. She'd explained to him that she and Sebastian had quarreled, but not why.<p>

The rose smelled spicy sweet, a heady perfume that scented the air. Opening the scroll she saw familiar script and nearly smiled. With his typical arrogance Sebastian had written.

'_My friend,_

_If you can bear the touch of the shadows where I most often dwell, then come to me tonight on the rooftop of your inn. I will confide in you the truth you seek, though I cannot promise that you will enjoy it, or my company once it is known._

_I await you with a hopeful heart,_

_Yours,_

_Sebastian'_

Briar didn't even bother to change her clothing. Setting her harp down, and leaving her flute to dangle from her belt she lifted the hem of her skirt and hurried up to the roof.

The darkness was relieved only by the light of the stars and the dim glow of street lamps below. Briar was thankful for her infravision, her dark green eyes glowed in the night and picked out a form, concealed by the shadows. The figure moved slightly and she saw intensely blue eyes glowing like her own, and remembered that Sebastian was also of elven heritage.

Lifting her flute to her lips Briar blew a few notes, a sorrowful plaintive tune, before she let her flute dangle from her belt again. Walking up to the figure she stood and stared into his eyes. "Sebastian…" she said softly.

"Well you pretty much blackmailed me into telling you the truth. The idea that you didn't want me near you, or hearing your music until I told, just about made me crazy." He said wryly, though he didn't move from the shadows where he stood.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly. "You were just so insistent that I trust you. I got very angry at the thought that you didn't trust me."

"Rightfully so." Sebastian said with a sigh. "Well, what you see is what I am." He told her. "Like my mother before me."

Briar frowned. "Sebastian, no one knows much about your mother except for the fact that she was your father's bard and she saved his life."

"Yes." Sebastian said softly. "She was sent to do so, by Raden." He reached for her hand, grasping her slim fingers gently. "Mother masqueraded as a bard, since she has a gift for music and a wonderful voice it wasn't hard for her to do. But she's not a bard, she never was. So I trust you not only with my own secret, but with hers." He took a deep breath. "My mother is an assassin."

Briar blinked in shock and her fingers gripped his convulsively. "And so are you?" She almost squeaked the question out. "Truly?"

Sebastian smiled. "Like you, Mother has a gift for music, but she also has other gifts." He looked down. "She also has much more experience in pretending to be something she's not." A lopsided smile touched his lips. "She's never been found out. The truth was told to my father, but she wasn't discovered. Unlike me."

"Something tells me you're a bit more in the public eye than your mother was." Briar said in a trembling voice. "Sebastian, how—"

"How did I get into my line of work?" He completed her sentence. "Some things Mother taught me when I exhibited a natural ability. And my father taught me to use a sword. Later, Raden taught me, other skills."

"Who is Raden?" Briar asked curiously. "And you're a prince, why would you want to be…an assassin?" She finished in a whisper.

"Raden is the Spymaster, also the head of the Assassins college and guild." Sebastian's fingers stroked her hand, trying to reassure her. "He taught my mother, and now me, mostly because I have a gift for it. I've gotten some field training, mostly at court, when someone tries something particularly foolish I've been able to stop them. As for why would I want to?" He stopped a moment. "You don't particularly enjoy your ability to use a blade with such precision." He said after a moment of thought. "My mother was forced into becoming an assassin, after a while she accepted and even enjoyed her gift. It was useful. With me…it's the one thing that I'm truly good at. It's not an acceptable social skill but I'm very good at it."

Briar simply stared at him, her dark eyes wide. Sebastian shook his head at her. "I don't enjoy killing, but I admit the necessity of it, and like my mother I have a gift for it. An uncomfortable gift that. I am very good at puzzles though, at figuring things out, and at intrigue. Raden is grooming me as his replacement. As he put it, I'll live as long as he, if not longer. I'm suited for the post. And I'm also practically guaranteed to be loyal to the crown, unlike Raden's predecessor."

He pulled her hand a bit closer, holding it to his heart and she could feel it beating wildly under her palm. "Telling you this, goes against everything I was taught. But I want you to trust me, and I want to trust you. My mother trusted my father. As a result, she was given a second chance at her life." He looked at her. "I'm trusting you with my secrets. Now will you trust me with yours?"

She stared at him. "But you know all of my secrets already Sebastian." Then she stopped and stared at him in shock thinking of the one thing she hadn't told him, the secret it had taken Dragon nearly a year to tell her. "It isn't truly my secret though Sebastian." She explained uncomfortably.

"I understand." He smiled. "You'll find that I understand secrets quite well."

"Its all right Briar, you can tell him." Dragons voice growled from the shadows. At their start of surprise he chuckled, a wicked rasp of amusement. "You ought to pay more attention to your surroundings than to each other when exchanging secrets." He told them. "And you left the scroll open on your bed Briar." He told her. "Don't worry, no one else is up here. I checked." He left as silently as he'd come.

Sebastian gave a low whistle. "Wonder if I could persuade him into pursuing a career with the guild?" He wondered aloud. "Our assassins are called that but more often we're spies and only occasional killers." The prince said absently.

"Somehow I doubt he'd be interested." Briar said wryly. "Considering the fact that he's semi-retired from his old line of work." Sebastian's inquiring gaze was something she could feel more than see. "We both follow the goddess Eilistraee, he is a long standing member of her faith. He is also one of the Knights of Twilight. In the old days they opposed the Zhents, Thay, Ghaunadaur and other enemies of the goddess. They watched, gathering information, and struck when they had to, in order to keep the world safe. A bit like Harpers, only less nosy, and more organized." She sighed. "He met me on one of his journeys on the orders behalf. I went along for the ride, and to get away from Serendal. We succeeded in completing the quest, but at a price. I lost my mind, my sight, my voice for a month. They had to break the magic harp from my hands to stop the spell I'd wrought. The spell accomplished what it was intended to, it saved lives. But Dragon couldn't bear the fact that he'd nearly lost his new sister and he went to the head of the order and retired. Then he told me he was a Knight."

"He told you after all that? You took it on faith? The whole time you were with him?" Sebastian asked wonderingly.

"Yes, just as I did with you, until I could see that it was obvious you were hiding something from me. I thought Dragon was an adventurer, and a ghost laid a charge on us. Finding out why she had afterward was odd but at least he told me." Briar shrugged. "I got angry when he told me he'd retired. He made a deal with the head of the order. We're both listeners now. We don't take action, but we keep our eyes and ears open, for rumors of the evils we oppose."

"So why here?" Sebastian was immediately alarmed. "Is there a problem here?"

Briar shook her head. "No Sebastian. Your city is safe. We came here because it is a place the arts thrive and I could make a living here while we looked for my father."

Sebastian smiled. "So am I invited to your performance tomorrow night?"

Briar nodded slowly and withdrew her hand from his. "And for sparring in the morning." She said softly.

* * *

><p>Briar enjoyed the next several days. She and Sebastian were able to spend an entire day together at one point, going on a tour of the city. The bard finally felt as if they were truly friends, that she could trust him as she trusted Dragon.<p>

Taking the stage that night was like coming home. Sebastian sat at his table in front of the small stage, and Dragon sat in the shadows in back. She played and felt as if her music had a new life to it. Finally with a smile she raised her harp and began the song she'd written that afternoon.

"Do you believe in fate?

Do you believe in destiny?

Have you ever seen two people meet

And something in their eyes

Joins them for eternity?

::

Do you believe in luck?

Do you believe in chance?

Have you ever seen two hearts entwined

In something stronger

More enduring than a romance?

::

As the lark heralds the morn

As the nightingale sings its song

As the dove weeps in longing

I've learned life will go on.

But do you believe in love?

::

Do you believe in music?

Do you believe in fairy tales?

Have you ever heard a fabled story

Of the pure true knight

Whose heart never fails?

::

As the lark heralds the morn

As the nightingale sings its song

As the dove weeps in longing

I've learned life will go on.

But do you believe in love?

Can I believe in love?"

::

Briar looked down at Sebastian after the final note drifted away and was almost shocked to see a sad angry look on his face. Curtseying to her audience she stepped down from the stage and sat across from him.

Sebastian stared at her and shook his head. "Gods Briar, do you enjoy challenging me?" He asked softly.

"I don't understand." The bard shifted uncomfortably under the intense blue of his gaze. There was something in his eyes that made her feel both warm and wary.

"Sometimes I wonder if you ever will." Sebastian took her hand and kissed the back of it. "I'm sorry." He shook his head and smiled at her teasingly. "When are you going to write a funny song?"

"What with you as my inspiration?" She retorted quickly. "It's your wit that is laughable."

The prince chuckled dryly and the two continued to exchange teasing insults over dinner.

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Black Rose**

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Shorter than usual here but you meet some more new people. Amon and Sabine are very important characters to my husband and me, we have a huge back story for them and out of that came their children who all have stories of their own. Each child has their own story and they're all finished so they'll all be posted eventually. Amon and Sabine haven't been written out completely so I don't have much to post for them.<em>

* * *

><p>There was a thoughtful smile on Sebastian's face as he entered his rooms. Judging from Briars song this evening, she was thinking more about the subject of love than he'd thought from the past few weeks.<p>

"Well I hate to wipe that smile off of your face Sebastian, well no that's not true, I love wiping the smile off your face, but not with this news." Lorelei's voice penetrated his consciousness. The tone was more serious than usual and the mocking note typical of her was not present.

Sebastian looked at her. His older sister was sitting in one of the elegant cherrywood and velvet chairs. For once she wasn't gowned in the latest style and perfectly coifed. Sebastian sat down on the chaise heavily. His heart gave a peculiar thump and seemed to stop for a moment. "What is it?" He asked in a shaken voice. "No one has…has…"

Lorelei shook her head. "Everyone is fine." She said with slight impatience. "Good grief Sebastian, I show up in my play clothes and forget to style my hair and you take that as a sign that someone is dead, dying or taken ill?"

Sebastian gave a huge sigh of relief. "Yes, quite frankly. Because how you appear, your image is very important to you. You're like Mother in that respect. No matter what she wears she always makes sure she appears attractive. Though these days I think she does it more because she likes to look beautiful to Dad."

"Well there's more to me than just looking pretty." Lorelei said crossly. "But that isn't why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?" Sebastian said quietly. "What is it?"

"Mother sent me." Lorelei told him soberly. "She gave me this letter for you and told me that if you didn't want to come afterward that I was to tell you that you have no choice." She handed him a folded and sealed square of parchment and sat waiting while he opened it.

Sebastian broke the seal and unfolded the letter. The writing was his mother's elegant calligraphy and he took a deep breath.

'_My son Sebastian,_

_When your sister told me two weeks ago that you needed more time, we understood and did not insist that you accompany the rest of the family on the trip to Suzail. Your father and I gave you the benefit of the doubt, believing you had your reasons, and personally I suspected that they were important ones, due to your association with my old mentor._

_You are now a week later than you said you would be, with no letter or any other form of explanation. I might have believed you dead but for the fact that a royal prince such as you present yourself to be does not simply disappear without speculation and rumor._

_Still had you sent word, exceptions might have been made, according to your reasons for staying in Aeliara. I have since had a visit from my brother. He informs me, quite offhandedly, that you are pursuing a new interest in the city. If this is the only reason for the length of your tardiness then I insist you accompany Lorelei back to Suzail immediately._

_I have been quite patient Sebastian, but I am done with patience. You will return to Suzail with your sister or I will come after you myself. I assure you that you will not like the discussion we will have upon my arrival._

_Make your excuses to whomever you must, I will allow you that much time. But if you do not appear in the Royal Palace by dawn tomorrow I will arrive in Aeliara shortly after dawn._

_Do not force me to come after you my son. You will not enjoy the consequences of such a defiance._

_Your loving and rather impatient,_

_Mother_"

Sebastian looked up at Lorelei. "Well I suppose I don't have a choice." He said quietly. "We have to be there by dawn she says. That will give me enough time to tell Briar." Lorelei nodded and rose to her feet. Sebastian eyed her in surprise. "I'll be back in a bit." He said.

"Oh, no. I'm not letting you out of my sight." Lorelei said firmly. "You didn't see Mother's face when she gave me that letter. I don't know what she thought but if I come back without you, it won't be good. Not for me or you."

Sebastian shrugged as if unconcerned. "Fine. But you're not coming with me to her room. You can wait in the taproom, or the hallway if you insist." He looked at his sister pointedly as he began to pull off his shirt. "You can stay if you like, but you might want to turn around. I wouldn't want to offend your maidenly sensibilities."

Lorelei spun around with a toss of her head and folded her arms, tapping her foot impatiently.

With a grin that was more impudence than good humor Sebastian tore off his clothing and dressed as quickly as he could in the simplest outfit he owned. "All right." He said stamping his feet into his boots. He swung a dark cloak around his shoulders and threw another at Lorelei. "The mist is heavy tonight, wear this or you'll be chilled." He buckled on his sword and caught Lorelei looking at him in surprise.

"Since when do you care if I catch a chill." She asked as she put the cloak on over her simple linen gown.

"You are my sister Lorelei. Even if we're not the best of friends, you are my sister." Sebastian looked shocked. "What did you think?"

"Actually Sebastian, you're so good at the bored, cold courtier act, I figured that it wasn't an act." Lorelei shrugged. "If its not you might want to let the rest of us in on it. I think even Mother was beginning to wonder."

Sebastian stared at her and shook his head slowly. There was nothing he could say. It was the truth. He had deliberately distanced himself from his family, showing them the same uncaring mask he presented to the rest of the world. Briar, and Dragon by eavesdropping, were the only people who knew the truth about him besides Raden. Though from her letter his mother suspected.

Taking his sisters hand he hugged her briefly and led her out of his rooms. The walk to the inn wasn't a long one but it was lengthy enough that Sebastian was able to think of a way he could still see Briar. If he was lucky, he might be able to persuade her to accompany them. She and Dragon might like to see Suzail, and he would be able to have his friends with him while he fulfilled his family obligations.

Sebastian didn't examine too closely the motives that fueled this line of thought. He definitely wanted Briar as more than a friend. His desire for her grew daily until he thought he'd burst sometimes. But even if they still remained simple friends he wanted her to come with him, wanted her nearby where he could see her each day and feel the potential for more.

Their arrival at the inn came almost too quickly for Sebastian.

* * *

><p>Dragon awoke first to the firm knock on the door. It wasn't the weary thump of the innkeeper. He'd learned to recognize that by now. Pulling on a pair of braies and picking up his sword he opened the door with a scowl.<p>

Sebastian blinked at Dragon and then grinned. "I take it you don't wake up in a good mood?" He asked lightly.

"Not in the middle of the night no." The warrior mage replied. "Its late Sebastian, what do you want?" He placed an elbow on the doorframe and leant against it, resting the flat of his blade on his shoulder.

Sebastian shrugged. "Sorry. But I'm being summoned to the capital, and I wanted to tell Briar before I left." He looked the mage in the eye. "Can I see her?"

Dragon looked at him as if he was insane. "You get to wake her up then." He said in his macabre growl. "I'm not that stupid." He moved out into the hallway and leant against the wall wearily. Sebastian nodded as he entered the room.

Lorelei, who had been standing behind her brother blinked at the sight of Dragon. The scars that marred the side of his face and neck extended to his shoulder and arm. They were old scars it was obvious, since they were also tanned brown as the rest of his skin. But the effect, along with his voice was disturbing. Lorelei took a deep breath and shut her mouth. It wasn't the scars that made it difficult to breathe, it was seeing so much of Dragons skin, and the muscles that rippled effortlessly under it as he folded his arms, cradling his sword against his forearm.

"I'm sorry we woke you." She apologized quietly. "Our mother was quite insistent, and so was Sebastian." She shrugged with the aplomb of one familiar with her family's idiosyncrasies.

Dragon bowed slightly, the upper half of his body inclining towards her. "We await upon your pleasure of course your Highness." He replied courteously, his rasping voice curiously blank of expression.

"You don't like me much do you?" Lorelei asked in a low voice.

Dragon regarded her with something like surprise in his obsidian eyes. "I don't know you your Highness, and I don't intend to know you. That makes it difficult to like or dislike you."

"Yes. But you still dislike me, even if you don't know me." The princess replied quietly. "It's all right. I don't really expect to be liked. It's not part of the job."

Dragon looked at her strangely. "The job?"

"Being a princess. It's a job." Lorelei explained. "Lots of stuff to learn, responsibilities." She shrugged again. "I'm used to it. As long as people like how I look, and act, I'm doing my job right."

Dragon looked at the princess. She was dressed very plainly this evening, in a cloak he recalled seeing Sebastian wear, a simple dress more suited to a merchants daughter and her hair braided in a long plait down her back. "And are you working tonight?" He asked wryly.

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "I didn't expect to be going out in public. I was sent to retrieve Sebastian. I didn't want to bother with my hair or dress. I didn't feel like it just for him." She shrugged. "Most people don't recognize me without the right dress and hairstyle anyway. They don't know me, they just know their princess." She looked at him. "You know, the one you dislike."

Dragon's mouth quirked up on one side. "I told you that I don't dislike you."

Lorelei made a face. "Let's face it, given a choice you'd rather not be talking to me. But until Sebastian has said good-bye, we're stuck here, unless you want to go back inside. I can't leave. If I let him out of my sight, something will happen. That's the way things work with our family."

Dragon nodded gravely. "I know the feeling." The growl of his voice was heavy with irony. "What is your job? Besides dressing and acting properly?"

Lorelei looked at him. "You really want to know?" When he nodded she seemed surprised but her shoulders rose in that carelessly elegant shrug. "I'm a bit of a diplomat. I mean, Morgana has this connection with the elves that's uncanny and she deals with them most of the time. But Andreas doesn't always have time to meet with everyone and he's also the Crown Prince so there's a lot of other stuff he has to do."

Dragon nodded his understanding. "What about Sebastian?" He asked already knowing the answer but wanting to hear what she had to say.

Lorelei smiled wryly. "If he chose Sebastian would be a better diplomat than I am. But he chooses the life of a courtier, he hears rumors, sorts out truth from gossip, that sort of thing." Her amber eyes darkened slightly. "He's very closed off, like our mother, he's difficult to know sometimes."

Dragon nodded. "We've noticed that."

* * *

><p>Sebastian moved to stand by Briar's bed looking down at her. The shaft of moonlight that illuminated the room tinged her white skin with silvery blue and made her seem like an ethereal creature born of the night and stars. The young man took a not so steady breath and reached to touch her long braid of shining hair. Sometimes he couldn't believe so beautiful a woman existed in the mortal realms.<p>

"Briar." He touched her shoulder gently, crouching down beside her bed. "Wake please."

The sleepy dark green gaze that met his was not welcoming. "Sebastian, go away." She mumbled shutting her eyes again.

"Please Briar, wake up and listen to me?" Sebastian shook her again.

"What!" She exclaimed in an irritated voice opening her eyes and sitting up in her annoyance. "What is so important that it can't wait until in the morning when I'm awake, and in the mood to see folk?"

"Because I won't be here in the morning Briar." Sebastian told her in a tense voice. "My family is insistent that I join them in Suzail."

"You won't be here." She repeated in disbelieving tones. One hand rose to push a braid over her shoulder and she stared at him.

"No, I won't." Sebastian said. "I leave for Suzail immediately; I have to be there before dawn." His hand touched her face gently and she stiffened with wariness. Sebastian's face hardened slightly but his voice was still quiet. "I wanted to see you before I left."

"Are you coming back?" The bard couldn't understand why she felt so panicked and blamed it on his touch, an intimacy to which she was still getting accustomed."

"Yes, I will return." Hope that she didn't want him to go leapt in his heart. "I just wanted to see you before I left." He repeated.

Relief made Briar relax though she wasn't certain why she felt the tension draining from her so suddenly. "Well as long as you're coming back. Why in the world did you wake me up?" She asked pettishly. "You could have written me a letter. I would have understood."

Sebastian's face hardened into the cold mask he habitually wore. "I was foolish enough to want to say goodbye." He said lazily. "I thought it would matter to you that I was leaving."

"Well of course it matters to me." She said with a tiny yawn and politely covering her mouth with her hand. "But it's not as if you owe me anything Sebastian. We're just friends."

"Just friends?" Sebastian repeated incredulously. "Rosaleen Dhu, I can't believe you just said that!"

"Said what?" Briar asked. "We are friends. Friends come and go as they choose. I know you would have written me, and let me know that you were well. Just as I would have you in the same situation. And I'll miss you, but we'll see each other when you come back." Her tone was so reasonable and so matter of fact that Sebastian exploded.

"Briar do you follow Nicodemus or something?" He said in stiff angry tones. "Because you have a talent for self deception the likes of which I've never seen."

"No I do not follow the god of night." She retorted. "And I am completely honest with myself."

"Oh, of course." Sebastian shot back. "So much so that you continually say that we are just friends. As if that is all we are. You know there is more to us than that."

"There is nothing more than that. Friends, that's what we are. I value you as my friend." Briar returned.

"Gods, be honest with yourself if not with me!" Sebastian cursed heatedly. "I have always wanted more than friendship with you. I made no secret of that. And you can't ignore what's inside you forever Briar Rosaleen Dhu!" He never rose his voice but the heat and intensity of his tones were more intimidating than a shout. "Lie to me if you choose, but at least admit to yourself that you care about me as more than a friend! That you want me as more than a friend!"

Briar stared at him. "I know exactly what is inside of me Sebastian. And so do you. And you know what I believe and do not believe." She said angrily. "I do not lie, not to myself or to you."

"Oh that's right. You don't believe in love." Sebastian whispered, in nearly a hiss, his anger was so great. "Well what do you feel for me then? A mild affection? What do you feel for Dragon?" He looked at her. "You don't believe in the love between a man and woman. You tell me that you don't believe in love. What is it that you sing of in your music? That you sang of tonight?"

"When I sing it is real to me. Only when I sing!" Briar said furiously. "And you are my friend, I care about you. But I've seen no evidence of love. Nothing that has showed me what everyone thinks is so wonderful. I don't love. And I don't lie to you or to myself."

"Really?" Sebastian said coldly rising to his feet. "You are lying right now." He turned on his heel and stalked coldly from the room. Standing in the doorway he looked from Lorelei to Dragon. "I will wait for you in the taproom Lorelei. We can go then."

* * *

><p>Lorelei didn't pay much attention to her brother on the way back to the palace. She was too busy considering the strange man Dragon. When they entered the octagonal chamber with the large design carved into the floor she finally looked at Sebastian closely. "What in the name of the gods is wrong with you?" She asked in horrified tones. Her baby brother looked cold and cruel, his beautiful face stiff with anger.<p>

"If I told you would you even try to understand?" Sebastian replied coolly. "Or would you take the opportunity to mock me once again?"

Lorelei stepped with him into the circle of the design and turned to reply angrily. "I don't know Sebastian, is this something real? Or is it one more mask that you're wearing for someone else's benefit?"

Sebastian waited until the teleportation spell took effect before he replied. "Does it matter? You never minded before."

A new voice, though extremely familiar to both of them, spoke before Lorelei could fire off her retort. "That is enough." The throaty honey tones were crisp and cool. "Thank you Lorelei, for acting as messenger and escort." The deceptively delicate violet-eyed woman who stood beside the doorway smiled slightly. "It wasn't required that you berate him, nor he you." She glanced at the amber-eyed girl and nodded. "You may go to bed my daughter."

Sebastian stepped out of the circle quickly and knelt before Cormyr's queen. "Your Royal Majesty." He said in quietly respectful tones. Lorelei rolled her eyes and left.

His mother looked down on him and her face changed. "Oh, for the love of Selena, get up Sebastian," Loving exasperation in her tones. "You know I hate having folk kneel before me."

Her son looked up with a wicked gleam in his eyes. "Really Mother? That's not quite what I heard."

Sabine, wife to King Amon and Queen of Cormyr, rolled her eyes just as her daughter had. "Really Sebastian." The half elven woman smiled wickedly. "I would hope you know for certain that kneeling is acceptable in certain situations. If you don't know that, then you're not living up to your family name."

Sebastian made a face thinking of the last time he'd been on his knees. "I think the Sargen charm has skipped a generation." He said wryly as he stood and hugged his mother. For a moment his face softened into a smile and then the same cold mask slipped back onto his face.

His mother looked at him for a moment and shook her head. "Come with me, sit and tell me what is wrong." She said quietly. "I know you, and there is more to this than you are telling me." Slipping her arm around his waist she led her son to the sitting room that attached to the Royal Suite. Gently pushing him onto the sofa she sat down beside him and regarded him with dark eyes. "Now, besides becoming Raden's student, which yes I knew about and no your father does not, what is going on that you didn't come to Suzail with the rest of us?"

Sebastian looked at his mother with a wry smile. "I should have known you would know about that." He shrugged carelessly. "Lorelei accused me of becoming a care for nothing courtier. Saying that if I wear a mask that not even my family could penetrate that I shouldn't be surprised when they are disbelieving when I tell the truth."

Sabine sighed and her slim strong hand caressed his golden curls. "My Sebastian." She said quietly. "My son, the path you have chosen is not an easy one. But it is a road you are very well suited for. I know what you mean. The work requires that you hide your heart, constantly, and yet, you can only speak the truth to those you love, for even the lies that would shelter them, could be used against you and them." She took his hand and held it to her cheek lovingly. "And you will not be able to use Raden's guise of invisibility. Secrecy will be your mask. The courtier, uncaring, foolish, fickle, your best disguise as the bard was mine."

"I know, and until a month or so, I had no reservations about the path I've chosen. It's the best way I can serve our country. I don't have Lorelei's patience with ambassadors and royalty, nor Morgana's serenity and sight. And I don't have the purpose and cunning of Andreas. I don't compare to Asrai at all in any of those things. I'm simply Sebastian, the fool, and now I wonder if it is a part I play too well. I cannot seem to stop being a fool even when I'm trying to be a friend." Sebastian began slowly and then the words that started as a trickle gushed forth like a flood.

Sabine smiled slowly. "So tell me about this new interest of yours, which Anakin thought he was being so coy about, and why it was so important that you didn't join us here."

Sebastian was about to reply when his father walked in the room. He was privileged to see again the affection that had permeated their marriage. The tall man that was his father had a handsome noble profile that could seem harsh with discipline but when he saw his wife his smile lit his eyes and face. The cool controlled woman who had a history as a ruthless assassin disappeared and a warm loving beautiful lady sat in her place.

"My love." The king said quietly. "I had hoped you would have found your way to a restful sleep by now." He leant down and kissed his queen softly and Sebastian heard his mother sigh happily.

"I had to speak with our son first." Sabine said with a smile. "Sit with us, he was just about to tell me about a new friend he has met." She tugged at her husbands hand playfully.

Amon grinned wickedly and with a wink at his son he picked his wife up and settled her in his lap. It was not the first time he'd done such a thing and it probably wouldn't be the last. Sebastian thought to himself that the times he'd seen his mother happiest were when she was being held so by his father. The two of them were both golden in appearance. Their skin was pale, his mother's nearly white, and their eyes dark. They simply looked right together, and their love of one another was obvious for anyone to see.

"So, Sebastian, tell us." Amon requested stroking his wife's long hair absently. Even though his attention was on his son, part of him still instinctively touched and soothed his wife, even as she slid a hand up to his neck and threaded her fingers through his own locks.

"Well, her name is Rosaleen Dhu, but we call her Briar. She's a bard…" He began to tell them about Briar. Several times he attempted to censor his story but he caught his mother's gaze and realized that skilled though he was at lying, she could still tell, and he'd better not try it. So the entire story came out. Who she was, her history, his need for her, the fights they'd had, everything. Right up until he'd stormed out of her room and told Lorelei he'd meet her in the taproom. Sebastian took a deep breath when it was over. He hadn't realized how clearly he remembered things. Something else his mother had given him. Her memory.

"So she doesn't believe in love?" Sabine looked up at her husband and smiled. "And what do you want from her Sebastian?" She inquired, her throaty voice soft.

"I want…" Sebastian halted his words before he could say what he was thinking. "I want more than to have her in my bed." He said tightly. "I want more than her friendship."

"Sebastian." Amon shook his head at his son. "What do you feel when you are with her? Do you ever want to leave her side?"

"I feel, whole, complete." Sebastian replied slowly. "I don't ever want to go away from her, which was why I delayed coming here. And when I am away, all I can think about is getting back to her. It's not like Anakin said, the challenge of trying to seduce her."

"What is it then?" Sabine asked. "Love?"

"It can't be love." Sebastian shook his head. "Its nothing like what the two of you share. I'd know if I loved her. There would be that peace, that joy that I see between the two of you." He was not prepared for his parents to look at each other and burst into laughter.

"Oh Sebastian." His mother gasped out between giggles. "Love is not peaceful." She shook her head.

"If you could have seen the two of us when we first met." Amon grinned looking down at his wife. "Two more tormented souls you'll rarely find. Each believing that we could never be with the other, nearly getting killed, and defying everyone in order to marry. Then learning that your mother was almost acceptable since she had noble elven blood." He kissed the top of Sabine's head affectionately. "If we're peaceful now its because we've earned it. We work at it. And we still fight. Probably always will. Your mother is damn stubborn."

"I'm stubborn? Look who couldn't be left alone for a trip to a wine cellar without nearly getting killed." Sabine shot back with a grin.

"Now that was a special case." Amon returned. Looking back at his son he shrugged. "We've had our problems. Love isn't easy. It isn't meant to be. If it was easy, we'd probably give up on it too soon."

"Nor would we want to hang on so badly." Sabine said quietly. "The point is Sebastian, that love sneaks up on you. It hits you from behind, takes you by surprise. Few people realize that they're in love until they're in so deeply it becomes obvious to them. You're brighter than most, you figured out what you wanted, just not why you wanted it."

"So what do I do?" Sebastian asked trying to control his agitation. "The last words I spoke to her were in anger. I'm stranded here for at least a month and a half. And Briar doesn't believe in love."

"So you say that you are sorry. Send her flowers everyday if you think it will help." Amon said reasonably. "If you were wrong admit it. And if you weren't" he forestalled Sebastian's comment. "say you're sorry anyway. If you fight, something hurtful always gets said, even if it's the truth. After a fight, even if you were right, you're always sorry for something. Take it from me." He tugged at his wife's hair playfully.

"As for being stranded here." Sabine smiled. "Sometimes distance is good, it reminds folk of how much they need someone in their life. You've been in Briar's company constantly right? So now you won't be, and she'll be able to see that she misses you."

"Briar still doesn't believe in love." Sebastian pointed out gloomily. "What do I do about that?"

"Sebastian, for years, I didn't feel." Sabine said softly. "Your father taught me to love, I would never have learned alone. Maybe you will have to teach your Briar Rose the same thing."

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Black Rose**

* * *

><p>Briar woke the next morning with a strange sense of emptiness. There was nothing to anticipate in the day. Opening her eyes she looked at Dragon.<p>

Dragon stared at her and raised an eyebrow. "And how are you this morning?" The warrior was already dressed and studying his spellbooks. When he looked up at her again she was staring into space. "Briar?"

She started, her eyes suddenly focusing back on the present again. "I'm fine." She lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. Suddenly she felt very strange. Sebastian's words came back to her and she tried to shut them out of her mind. She didn't lie to herself. And she wasn't missing him either.

* * *

><p>The knock on the door that afternoon brought a dissonant jangle of harp strings as Briar's fingers jerked in surprise. Dragon looked at her with a sigh and called "Come in," in a resigned voice.<p>

The door opened to reveal their innkeeper. He held a scroll and a small package. With a cheerful smile he set it on the table inside the door and shut the door again. Briar looked at the package with almost frightened eyes. With strangely hesitant steps she moved towards the table and opened the scroll. Sebastian's oddly arrogant script slanted over the page in a few lines.

'_My friend Briar,_

_Please forgive my unkind words of last night. To go one day without basking in the warmth of your smile was so unthinkable, I in my foolishness, deprived myself of the sight the last time I might see it._

_I hope you will accept this gift, without objections, since when I saw it, all I thought of was you._

_With all my love,_

_Sebastian'_

Briar looked up at Dragon with huge eyes. "He said he was sorry for his words." She whispered.

"Does that make them less true?" Dragon queried in a soft growl. "Think about that."

Briar nodded slightly acknowledging his words. Her fingers were trembling as she opened the gift Sebastian had sent. In a velvet pouch rested an exquisite necklace. The chain was made of a white gold twisted like a rope and on either side of the loop of the pendant was a gorgeous creamy white pearl. The pendant itself was a rose, a creation of dark beauty, the stem, thorns and leaves perfectly carved from the darkest green jade, and the flower itself on the precipice of blooming, fashioned from an onyx that gleamed with blood red in the shadows. A single tiny drop of dew in the form of a diamond gleamed on a petal.

Briar uttered a tiny cry of delight when she saw it and sighed. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Turning she opened her hand and showed Dragon. "Look. Sebastian…sent it for me. He said he thought of me when he saw it. It's so beautiful." She breathed in awe.

"Yes." Dragon nodded. "Sebastian sees in you, the beauty you see in that. More I think." He looked at the bard. "You know he loves you Briar. He has from the first. You weren't watching when you performed the first time, but I was. Your music captured his interest, your beauty caught his eye, but your soul captured his heart."

"Dragon, I don't believe in love." Briar said in a broken voice. "What I sing of, my music, I can believe it when I sing, or hear the music, but not when I'm offstage. It's not real."

"So what you're saying is that you can believe in anything as long as you hear the music in your heart." Dragon said slowly. "Even something you don't trust, and can't believe in normally, you can believe in onstage because you're creating music in your heart."

"Well, yes." Briar nodded her agreement.

"And what do you hear in your heart when you are with Sebastian?" Dragon asked and gently folded her fingers over the precious necklace. "Think about that Briar."

* * *

><p>A letter arrived in Suzail from Aeliara later that day. The page handed it to Sebastian and the prince was forced to slip it up his sleeve until he had a chance to look at it.<p>

Finally, slipping into the hallway he pulled the letter out again. The seal was of plain wax with no indication of whom it could be from. The prince leant back against the wall and hoped it was from Briar as he broke the seal.

Unfolding the parchment he stared down at unfamiliar calligraphy, realizing that he'd never seen Briar's handwriting. There were only a few lines.

'_My friend,_

_Please accept my own apology for my part in our quarrel. I thank you for your gift. Rarely have I seen anything more beautiful._

_Your friend,_

_Briar'_

Sebastian sighed. The woman was going to make him insane. Still, at least she hadn't thrown his gift back in his face, and he knew quite well how she felt about expensive gifts. He folded the parchment back up and smiled down at it before placing it in his shirt against his heart.

* * *

><p>The month seemed to drag on forever to Briar. Her music was still praised, her performances were as wonderful as always, but the tenor of her music had changed. More and more, sorrow slipped into her melodies. She couldn't seem to escape the strange pain that throbbed within her.<p>

The bard spent more and more time walking alone looking out over the water of the falls. At Dragon's insistence she was quite warmly dressed and her own common sense and self preservation wouldn't allow her to become so tired that she took a chill.

Her weapons practice didn't suffer either, though part of her wondered what it would be like with Sebastian there to surprise and shake both of them up.

Dragon watched his friend, smiling and shaking his head over her alternately. The girl was lovesick and didn't even know it. The only problem was that sooner or later she would decide she didn't like how she felt and take steps to cut the pain out of her life. He was well aware that a stubborn heart could stop loving someone, or at least refuse to allow that love room to grow. And like a plant love could wither and die.

So when Lorelei along with a young man possessed of piercing hazel eyes and dark ash-blond hair entered the taproom after Briar had left Dragon wasn't exactly in a mood to be courteous. He deliberately didn't rise as Lorelei approached his table. "Your highness." The warrior mage nodded coldly. "I thought the entire family was exiled to the capital? What are you doing here?"

"I came to find out what your friend thinks she's doing to my baby brother." Lorelei replied a sweet sting to her words.

"What she's doing?" Now Dragon did rise, though respect had nothing to do with his reasons. Angrily he towered over the half elven girl. "What does your beguiling brother think he's doing to my baby sister?" His evil looking voice and viciously scowling face brought the young man escorting Lorelei closer, his hand dropping to his sword hilt. "Oh save it boy, I'm not about to fight a child." Dragon snapped.

"You will address my twin, and the Crown Prince with more respect." Lorelei said dangerously. In an even controlled voice she said. "Andreas this is Dragon. Dragon, this is my older twin Andreas." The prince nodded and his eyes darted from his sister's face to the warriors.

"You felt the need to bring along a protector?" Dragon nearly sneered in derision. "Should I be flattered?"

"Absolutely not. But after Sebastian's stunt none of us are allowed to go anywhere alone. Andreas was the only one in the mood to travel." Lorelei snapped.

"Sebastian's stunt?" Dragon's anger dimmed in favor of his curiosity. "I knew he was crazy, but what did he do?"

Lorelei's agitation didn't lessen but her annoyance dropped a bit. "He tried to leave. The room with the teleportation ring was barred to him, so he took a horse from the stables and tried to leave Suzail. He was on the road to Aeliara when the Purple Dragons caught him. Our parents were not pleased. They understood but they weren't pleased." She took a deep breath and tried to talk but couldn't. The young man at her side patted her shoulder and continued her explanation.

"That was the first time we'd seen Sebastian show any emotion in the month he's been with us." Andreas said in his quiet deliberate voice. Everything about this young man seemed to be thoughtful, considering of his surroundings. "He practically begged our parents to let him come here. He said that he had to at least see her, he needed to hear her music again, even if she didn't want to talk to him."

"He's so cold." Lorelei said softly. "I've never seen him so cold. He used to pretend he was bored with the world. Now it's as if he doesn't care about anything. The only time he smiles is when he's with our mother."

"And sometimes not even then." Andreas qualified gently. "Why doesn't she write to him at least?" He asked Dragon. "He got one letter from her. I think he keeps it next to his heart. She's torturing him." His voice while compelling was still gentle, with nothing accusing about it.

"She's torturing him?" Dragon repeated incredulously. "Do you know before your brother showed up and threw her into a tizzy, that my sister used to laugh, and smile, quite a bit?" He told them in a tightly controlled voice. "She'd been through hell in the last year, and we came here to rest. She was finally reaching some peace. And then your baby brother insists on being part of her life."

He dropped into his chair and stared up at them. "She's only sixteen. She's never met anyone like Sebastian in her life. He is gentle and beguiling and seductive. And kind to her." Absently he gestured at the chairs opposite him and they sat down cautiously.

"Why—" Lorelei's voice was cut off by Dragon's.

"She ran away from home at fifteen." Dragon answered the question Lorelei had been about to ask. "Her cousin tried to rape her, and his parents didn't see any reason to interfere. When she defended herself she was locked up. She didn't remain to see how she would be punished." He said quietly.

"As for why she didn't write to him. Sebastian never wrote to her again after that first note." Dragon said in a soft angry voice. "And she didn't know what to think."

"She could have written to him." Lorelei objected.

"Oh, could she have?" Dragon echoed sarcastically. "The first gift your brother gave her was a book, ink and a quill. She objected. They were magical and too valuable and he might just have been trying to buy his way into her affections. They managed to fight that out between themselves. But that's an example of Briar's opinion of the nobility." He held up a hand to halt any objections. "Sebastian sent her a necklace a month ago. It is obviously valuable, an appropriate bauble for a prince to send to a mistress or lover. You'd think she'd throw it back in his face. She didn't. You know why?" Lorelei shook her head, the motion mirrored by her twin. "Because in his letter, Sebastian told her that he'd bought it because it reminded him of her. And that was why he wanted her to have it. She never takes it off." The warrior stared at them. "That's how far she's come. But she's still a little too unsure of herself to write letters to someone who may or may not still be interested in her. She hasn't heard from him since. She doesn't even know if he accepted her apology or not."

The scarred, rough voiced man leant back in his chair and one blunt tipped finger rubbed at the bridge of his nose as if he was tired. "So you see why my sympathies are with the girl I've taken as a heart sister, and not with your brother, who apparently has known a loving family all his life."

Lorelei sighed. One slender white hand touched his hesitantly to draw his attention and then pulled away. "Look Dragon, all we know is that Sebastian wants your sister more than anything. Will she at least write to him? Now?"

Dragon sighed. "Does he love her?" He tilted his head with lazy menace. "You see, I liked your brother from the start, he behaved with honor, courting her, whereas most men would simply have conquered and despoiled. But this is up to them. Its all I can do to keep calm, give Briar a sounding board, and point out that he's not such a bad guy, and that he's a good friend to her. I can't make her realize that she's in love. She doesn't believe in love. I'm working on it, but its up to her."

Andreas spoke again, his gaze intent. "What about you?"

Dragon looked surprised. 'What about me? I'm not in love with Briar, I'm just her big brother."

"What are your intentions toward my sister?" Andreas' smiled slightly, his sharp gaze too perceptive for Dragon's comfort. Lorelei gasped in shock and embarrassment and Dragon heard her hiss. "Andreas, I can't believe you said that! How dare you!"

"I have no intentions towards your sister, any of your sisters." Dragon clarified. "I don't get involved with noblewomen." His obsidian eyes were hard and glittering and his voice grated like a whetstone on a blade. Then his gaze grew intent and he sat up straight. "Don't turn around, if she sees you Lorelei she'll probably panic or something." He said quietly. "You've heard her sing before. This is the perfect example of how much she's changed, how much your brother is tormenting her." He nodded to Andreas. "It's safe for you to look."

They directed their attention towards the stage where Briar stood. The bard wore a gown of pale grey, like the mist of the waterfalls. Around her throat the exquisite necklace gleamed. Her hair shifted around her as she moved with her harp. And then the music began.

Sorrow, pure sorrow, was the only way to explain it. All the joy and splendor and passion that comes before the deepest sorrow a heart can feel. There was a voice, calling in wordless longing, and hope, and then the song was done.

There was more music of course, lively and amusing, for hours. And then the harp chimed again and there were words this time to that terrifyingly aching tune.

"I am strong and I'll go on

I'll live, share the gifts I have to give

And no one will look at me and see

That I'm a really just a shadow of who I used to be.

::

For so long I was alone

So I'm sure I can make it on my own

I'm not supposed to need.

I'm not supposed to feel and hurt and grieve.

I am broken

::

The last words we spoke

Were heard in anger

I never saw the danger there

Why doesn't he see what he did to me

I thought he knew what he does to me.

I never knew how it felt to lose a friend

::

And is this the end

Of this strange exciting story

Or will it return to the beginning again

Will we have another chance at glory?

If I am broken…

Am I still broken?"

::

Lorelei became aware of Dragon's hands moving mystically. His lips mouthed strange words and as Briar stretched out her hand in wordless longing she suddenly disappeared.

Dragon shook his head slightly and said quietly. "She'll go straight back to our room. She never stays in the taproom anymore. She can't bear it."

Lorelei looked at him in shock. "You're a mage as well as a warrior?" Her tone was amazed.

"I was a mage before I became a warrior." Dragon said wryly. "You didn't think I was born with these?" He gestured to his scars. "Or that this is just how my voice turned out?"

Lorelei shrugged. "I didn't question where they came from. Scars hardly matter. They're part of you." Her blasé attitude was almost humorous to Dragon when he considered his reasons for avoiding noblewomen. "And actually…" Lorelei grinned impishly. "I like your voice, it sounds wonderfully dramatic and wicked. Especially when you're such a nice person. It's probably a good thing you've got it. You're too nice to be intimidating really."

Dragon looked at Andreas. "Does she really have more hair than wit or is this an act she puts on for the benefit of others?"

Andreas grinned in amusement. "She has her moments." He rose and tugged at his sister's hand. "C'mon Lorelei. We've got to get back to Suzail." He nodded to Dragon and shook his head when the older man started to rise and bow. "Please no, I liked your way of greeting us far better." He grinned again and gently but firmly guided his sister out of the inn.

Dragon stared after them thoughtfully. That young man had the air of someone who always got his way. Not because he was spoiled or demanding, but simply because he was right. Lorelei was another story entirely. Dragon shuddered. The gods save him from another noblewoman becoming interested in him.

* * *

><p>The twins knocked on Sebastian's door firmly, and when he didn't answer Andreas pushed it open and tugged Lorelei in after making sure his brother was dressed. The younger prince was lying on the bed, his tunic unlaced and boots carelessly thrown in the corner. The curly golden hair was as rumpled as his clothing, as if he'd run his hands through it more times than could be counted. His eyes were closed.<p>

Andreas hesitated a moment and the twins both nearly jumped as their brother spoke without opening his eyes. "You know, if you two would leave me alone, I'd feel I owed you a favor for the rest of my life." He said in a dry voice. "Since that would be something Lorelei could hold over me and you Andreas would call it in when you really needed it, I would think that ample incentive to leave my rooms."

Lorelei looked at Andreas and shrugged. She had no notion how Sebastian had known it was them. It wasn't as if she was wearing perfume. "Actually Sebastian, we thought we were doing you a favor." She said quietly. "We went to Aeliara to check on Briar."

"Ah, how kind." The sarcasm in Sebastian's voice was practically cutting. "Came to report that she's happily dancing in someone else's arms did you? Put me out of my misery?"

Andreas sat down on the edge of the bed while Lorelei took a seat in a chair. "Actually Sebastian…" He paused, his voice concerned and he looked at his twin.

Sebastian sat up and stared at his older brother coldly. "Briar is all right isn't she?" His tone of voice practically dared Andreas to give him a negative answer.

Lorelei said quietly. "She's not dancing." And shrugged. Taking up a stick of charcoal she idly began to move it over some parchment on the desk at which she sat.

Sebastian's gaze grew darker if that was possible and he fixed his eyes on Lorelei. "Explain."

Andreas drew his brother's attention again as he spoke. "I've only heard sorrow like that once or twice before in music. That time Asrai was sick and we heard Mother playing her lute when she thought she was alone. And once with the elves at a funeral."

The younger prince pushed his hands through his hair again rumpling his curls further. "Damn it!" He cursed pushing himself off the bed and pacing impatiently. "Is she all right physically? She's not sick or anything?"

Andreas shrugged and looked at Lorelei. His twin sighed and her eyes met Sebastian's for a moment. "She looks the same I suppose. But the only thing paler than her gown was her face. And she didn't smile the entire time she was onstage." The princess paused and added. "Not even during the livelier music she played."

"Paler than her gown?" Sebastian blinked. "But she always wears dark colors." He'd tried to convince her that icy pale colors would suit her just as well but she hadn't purchased anything that wasn't dark while he'd been there.

Andreas grinned with amusement that his brother in his distracted state still paid attention to what the woman wore. "She wore this…" He shrugged again and jerked his head towards his sister. The crown prince only paid attention to what someone was wearing long enough to note that they looked nice. He was not at all fashion conscious and tended to dress simply.

Lorelei grinned and made a face at her twin. "She had a gown of this pale misty grey." She said off handedly, seemingly more interested in her doodles on the parchment than she was in what she was saying. "But she wore your necklace Sebastian. Actually Dragon says she never takes it off." She slanted a glance at him.

Sebastian smiled, an expression of pure delight, and the twins blinked. It seemed so long since they'd seen their brother smile. "Then she liked it."

"Dragon says that she's very confused, and not very happy." Lorelei told him. "You should write to her."

"But she…" Sebastian began and Andreas ruthlessly cut him off.

"According to Dragon, she's not sure if you have forgiven her, or are even still interested." He said quietly. "And she can't write to you because of that."

Sebastian's eyes gleamed with purpose. "Lorelei, would you mind letting me use my desk?" He rubbed his hands together and a wicked grin spread over his face. "I have something very important to do."

She nodded and rose from the desk. "I have to get some sleep." She said absently.

Sebastian stared down at the parchment that Lorelei had been doodling on. Turning quickly he took her arm gently. "Thank you Lorelei." The young man said fervently.

His sister just grinned. "Think of it as an apology for mocking you when I first met her." Her twin and Sebastian both looked suitably shocked at the thought of an apology from her and Lorelei scowled adorably. "Oh both of you go sit on a pitchfork." She snapped and flounced out of the room.

Andreas simply clasped Sebastian's shoulder for a moment. "Selena smile." He offered with a grin. "I think you might need Her aid in this."

Sebastian's mouth quirked in a self mocking grin. "I'm rapidly losing all pride about this. If Selena smiles I'll take the blessing and thank her."

Andreas nodded. "Good. If Dad and Mother are any example pride has little importance compared to love." He turned and strode from the room leaving Sebastian to stare down at the parchment still lying on the surface of his desk.

He sat down and carefully lifted it in his hands. Staring back at him was a portrait of Briar. Somehow Lorelei had captured the bards beauty without making her seem cold. Briar's lovely face, with her hair flowing about her and Sebastian's gift around her throat was the most welcome sight Sebastian could imagine.

He frowned down at it. He'd never seen Briar so sad though, not even when she'd spoken of her family and exile. Had he done that to her?"

Propping up the drawing up so that he could look at it, the prince took a fresh piece of parchment and began to write.

* * *

><p>Briar glanced up at the knock at her door. She no longer jumped with taut nerves at every sound. Now it was all she could do to be courteous to folk besides Dragon. All she wished was to be left alone. Setting her quill carefully aside she rose and opened it.<p>

The innkeeper stood there with a package in his hands and a scroll on top of it. "This just arrived." He gave it to her and with a cheerful salute retreated back down to the taproom.

Briar set the package down and considered it. Part of her wished to ignore it. The other part of her wanted more than anything to open it and hoped it was from Sebastian. Others had sent gifts and letters and tried to speak with her after her performances since Sebastian had left. Dragon had taken to making her disappear again and she sent everything they gave back with polite denials.

With a sigh Briar took a dagger and cut the cord that held the rough brown cloth around the parcel. Pulling the stuff away she looked down at the gift. Whoever had sent it had extraordinarily good taste, she would admit that much.

A pretty woven basket trimmed with ribbons sat before her. The silver backed brush and comb had a matching hand mirror with a blooming rose on the back. A bottle of cut glass held a perfume that smelled of wild roses, just heady enough to tantalize but not overwhelm. A set of combs for her hair, in delicate jade were wrapped in several fine silk handkerchiefs trimmed with lace. And in the bottom of the basket, nearly hiding a small pouch, was a carefully folded embroidered lace shawl. It looked as if it had been spun from a spider's web it was so fine but the design was that of a briar rose.

Briar looked at all of it wistfully. It was so pretty, but she didn't take gifts from anyone except for Sebastian. Somehow he always made her feel that he gave her things because he couldn't bear not to. As if he simply enjoyed giving her things, not to purchase her.

She opened the pouch with a sigh, and a set of earrings fell into her hands. Lovely and delicate they were a perfect match for the necklace at her throat. A startled cry escaped her lips and she snatched up the scroll. Her hands were trembling as she broke the seal and unrolled the parchment.

'_My dearest Briar Rose,_

_Word has reached me that contrary to my fears, you might be willing to speak to me again. So I risk sending this small gift, of carefully selected objects, hoping I may delight your senses and smooth my path for another apology. I hope you enjoy them. The happiest day spent away from your company was shopping with my baby sister and telling her about you while we chose gifts we hoped you would enjoy._

_Please my friend, forgive me for not writing to you. I had mistakenly thought you would write to me again, telling me of your progress in your search for your father. When you did not write, I believed that you no longer wished to speak with me, that I had in some way erred._

_The other fear I entertained was that you had found company more to your liking. A kindred soul whose music could match your own. Someone with whom you would dance and sing and laugh._

_Please tell me that you have not written due to my own stupidity. Please say that you did not write for fear of the same things. Please though, write to me, and tell me how you fare, if you've written any more new songs._

_I miss you. I tried to leave the capital, even got to the road and down it a ways before I was caught and retrieved. My parents were not pleased but I needed to see you. I miss your music, I miss arguing with you, I miss making you laugh, seeing your smile._

_You know that I want more from you than friendship Briar. I made no secret of it. But being without your company makes me realize that I can wait as long as I must wait, if I can only wait while I'm with you. I want to be your friend. I only hope that someday you see that what we have is even greater than friendship._

_All of my love,_

_Sebastian'_

Briar was surprised to find tears streaming down her cheeks as she finished reading the letter. Sniffling slightly she read it again and realized that in all the things that Sebastian had written he missed, he hadn't said that he missed her beauty, but that he missed her. Her tears started all over again and she was still weeping when Dragon walked in.

"What's wrong?" Her friend asked in worried tones. He looked at the room, at the basket and the objects spread over Briars bed and at the parchment she clutched. "Did someone…" He growled in his throat. Men had been attempting to purchase Briar's affections for the past month. Some of their letters hadn't been delicate in their approach.

Briar looked up at him with a radiant smile through her tears. "Sebastian wrote to me Dragon." She sniffled again. "I don't know why I'm crying…it's been years since I cried…I'm happy. Why am I crying?"

Dragon grinned at her. "That's just the way it works Briar." He shrugged and sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her companionably. "I'm glad he wrote to you. I was getting worried something had happened to him."

Briar smiled up at him. "I'm glad he wrote too."

* * *

><p><em>'Dear Sebastian,<em>

_I wish first to thank you for your thoughtful and extremely well chosen gift. I was half afraid that I would have to return it until I saw the earrings and realized that it could only be you who sent it. Every time I look at the basket and its treasures I think of you. Thank you Sebastian._

_You needn't fear my friend, the only man in whose company I am seen is Dragon. I have found no other with whom I share my company and thoughts. I do not laugh, or dance with anyone else. When I am not with Dragon, I am alone._

_I didn't write to you before this, simply because I couldn't be sure that you wished to hear from me. It seemed extremely forward to write to you again, when I'd had no response from you. I am sorry if I caused you pain, I am never certain of the appropriateness of any action I take, because I am not certain of my position, or place. It may seem foolish, but I do not wish to push in any way. I do not know where I belong, so I am constantly evaluating what I should do. I am rarely certain._

_I am well. I have written some new music, which I will be happy to play for you when you return. _

_I have been walking through the city and I am constantly amazed at its beauty and the harmony with nature that has been achieved. I remember all you told me on the day you gave me a tour and each time I visit a spot you had shown me I hear your voice in my head and your words._

_I miss you as well. My walks aren't the same as when you were with me, I don't enjoy looking at the city half as well without you here to tell me some amusing or interesting piece of local history. The time you pushed Lorelei into the wading pool leaps to mind at this point._

_You'll be happy to know that as my gowns wear out I am taking your advice and trying pale colors instead of my habitual dark shades. The near white dress of misty grey was well received though it seems odd to me, as if the fabric is made sheer by its delicacy of color. Dragon assures me it is no such thing, but it is an odd feeling that persists. I have had another made up in pale green, the color of jade. I will wear the combs you gave me with it, they match perfectly._

_Return to us soon, Dragon and I are falling into our old habitual ways of sparring and you are sorely missed in this aspect as in all others._

_Yours truly,_

_Briar'_

**TBC**

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: So shorter again but the next chapter starts a different section of the story where we've taken a little jump forward in time. Hope you're enjoying yourselves<em>.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Black Rose**

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Okay so in this chapter we meet someone who changed the lives of several people in the story. He's nicer than he first seems so give him a chance, Raden's had a hard life.<em>

* * *

><p>The darkness of Briar's hair seemed to melt into the black of the sky until her pale face and angry dark eyes were set like a jewel in a sea of midnight. An ironic twist pulled at Sebastian's mouth. That he still noticed how lovely she was even when he was furious with her was just one more sign to him that he adored the woman before him.<p>

"I will not be set in a lavish cage in the palace like a kept woman!" Briar snapped at him furiously. "How you could even think such a thing of me makes me wonder where your mind is these days Sebastian!"

By pure force of will Sebastian kept his voice even and controlled. "Briar I only offered because I thought you would be more comfortable as a guest of the royal family." He replied. "I never intended for you to come alone, certainly I expected Dragon would remain at your side, and all the proprieties observed. It would be too much even for someone of my reputation to house his supposed mistress under the same roof as his mother and sisters. And no," He held a hand up to forestall any darts in that direction. "You are not my mistress nor are you seen as such, which was why I felt it entirely appropriate to offer a suite of rooms to Dragon and yourself."

"We can take care of ourselves." Briar returned shortly.

"Yes, so you keep telling me." Sebastian returned. "You refuse to accept any help from me, as if it keeps your virtue safer to be crowded into a tiny room. You act as if to be my friend, to accept help is something to be ashamed of." His fury at her continuing determination to keep him at arms length seemed to spiral through him. He had enemies that could easily decide to strike at her on a whim, a shot in the dark to see if her death had any effect on the prince. At the palace he could protect her from the consequences of his regard. On the other side of the city as far from the palace as one could get, Briar and Dragon were in greater danger.

"I am not ashamed of your friendship." Briar struggled to keep her voice low, mindful of the fact that open air surrounded them on the inn's rooftop. "But I cannot give the appearance of more than that, no matter how closely the proprieties are observed. If people believe or begin to believe that I am your mistress, they will wish me to perform for that reason, not for my music."

Sebastian sighed wearily. He couldn't explain to her the reasons he wanted to keep her close, not the more dangerous ones anyway. It would only worry her and there wasn't anything she could do. "All right. I just wish you would let me help you, discreetly if not openly."

Briar shook her head. "Sebastian it is very important to me that I do things on my own."

"Yes, as if my coin is tainted with my reputation." He said quietly. "You wish to keep to the fiction that I have only friendship in my heart towards you. That I do not have other desires and so I am content to leave things as they stand. Someday I hope you admit that you want more as well."

Briar looked at him, her eyes glowing green like a cats in the darkness. "I am sorry Sebastian."

"Selena's smiles and Nicodemus' tears!" Sebastian swore fluently. "Don't tell me you're sorry!" He turned and stalked off outrage proclaimed by every line of his body, yet his footsteps still made no sound.

Briar sighed and almost as quietly made her way to her room at the inn beneath her feet.

* * *

><p>Raden sat at his desk in his shadowed study and looked at his protégé. As golden as his mother with a wicked air about him that only served him well in his disguise Sebastian would make a great Spymaster some day. That the boy was lovesick and still managed to do his job said even greater things about him. "You know that she is endangered simply by your association with her." He said seemingly offhandedly.<p>

Sebastian nodded soberly. "By all appearances she is simply a talented bard whose voice and company I enjoy now and then. I have taken great care to not appear otherwise when in public with her."

Raden nodded. "And you've done well. No one believes she is anything other than a passing fancy of yours. This will keep her safe for a while." He nodded at Sebastian's raised eyebrows at the qualifier. "No doubt in an attempt to prevent her pride and heart being bruised you've ceased your attentions to other women except for dutiful social obligations. Sooner or later the enemies you have in the court, simply because of your position, will come to the conclusion that she is more to you than she appears."

Sebastian's jaw set firmly. "I'll be damned if I'll bed five different women a week when I've no desire for them just to set the rumors flying again." He retorted evenly. "She won't let me keep her at the palace, under the dubiously protective status of my personal bard. She won't accept money so she can afford a better, more secure, inn. She won't even acknowledge my feelings for her."

Raden's mouth quirked in a smile. "If you want to protect her, you should give exactly that impression. You have the skill to make sleep potions, use it." Sebastian grinned appreciatively as his nimble mind effortlessly followed Raden's line of thought. The older man rubbed his jaw. "I have a spy in the academy, waiting for field work. He resembles you in build and coloring to the extent that in the dark and with a slightly intoxicated and drugged woman he will be you. Act the lover in public, he will take the part of the lover in private, satisfying the need for physical evidence of a night with the young prince." Raden regarded the prince sternly. "And he will not make the mistake of falling in love with any of the women." His voice was slightly reproving.

Sebastian grinned at the plan Raden outlined, his mentor was truly devious, but his eyes darkened dangerously and he leant forward all of his lazily relaxed airs falling like bricks. "I won't apologize to you or anyone for the demands of my heart." He hissed out sounding to Raden's ears nostalgically like his mother. "I love her, I will protect her by whatever means I must, but I am not you Raden, I have a heart that insists on the love of a woman."

"Like your mother." Raden smiled. "Relax Sebastian, let your ire subside." He rose and walked about the room. "I am aware of the fact that you're in love with this girl. I congratulate you on at least knowing what you want. Many men don't. But you are next in line for this position and it has dangers. Most folk don't know of my existence, personally and professionally. You cannot avoid the first, but you must avoid the second. No one can know that you will be the next Spymaster and the head of the assassin's guild. That is the only thing that will protect you and your lady from the dangers that come with this appointment. Nothing can prevent the dangers inherent with the title you bear by heredity."

Sebastian looked at him challengingly. "Briar knows." He said quietly. "I told her, because she is just as intelligent as you or I, and she knew there was something I was concealing. She would have learned of it eventually. And her blood brother Dragon knows as well. Neither of them would betray me."

Raden sighed. "It's your neck Sebastian." He said quietly. "I wouldn't have advised it, but then I've never been concerned with the integrity of a woman's heart."

"Liar." Sebastian scoffed. "You value my mother's opinion and that of Lady Shen very highly."

Raden narrowed his eyes at the prince. "Don't let your familial relationship to the goddess of luck lead you to gambling your life on chance remarks Sebastian." He said in a quiet voice. "I could kill you with a word right now."

Sebastian shrugged. "You could, but you won't." He said carelessly. "I know you pretty well Raden. You do care about a few people. Lady Shen and my mother, and me, and even my father. You would never hurt a member of the royal family. Your loyalty is too great."

Raden scowled at his protégé. "How can you be so sure?" He asked coldly.

"Because I know you." Sebastian said rising from his chair. "And because if you wanted me dead, you could have killed me a thousand times over in the past few years." He snapped into a near military stance and bowed his respect correctly. "You will send your new agent to me in Aeliara?" He inquired. Raden nodded and Sebastian turned and left the room.

* * *

><p>Briar looked around. The Rose Theatre was astounding. She'd never seen a theatre of this size or of such incredible beauty. Everything about it was graceful as if it had grown from the stone on which the city rested. It was considered to be one of the jewels of the city and an honor to tread the boards of its stage.<p>

And now the owner of The Rose was holding a contest the prize of which was for a single performer to hold the stage for a night. Any bard could enter, but the contest was of three parts and the competition in a city known for being a metropolis of culture was intense.

Briar took a deep breath and sought a place where the press of bodies was not so fierce. Finding a slightly shaded spot with only a few other folk she leaned against a post and sighed in relief.

"I wouldn't relax just yet." A lazy drawl came to her ears. "You've yet to perform, wouldn't want to lose that aura of anticipation now would we?" A saturnine appearing man across from her grinned with false intimacy.

Briar regarded him with coolly curious eyes. A goatee carefully shaped to a point, narrow eyebrows and dark eyes and black hair gave the impression of a satyr. Olive complexioned skin and a fine regard for fashion were her next observations. A fellow bard, with a predilection for aping a courtier she concluded as she took in the violin case he carried. He spoke as if imitating Sebastian's careless lazy tones.

"You're the Black Rose." He continued. "I'm Malachi."

"How do you do?" Briar bent her knees in a slight curtsey, her black skirts rustling slightly.

"Ah, well enough." He replied with a grin. "Better now that I have had occasion to gaze on your fairness. 'Tis a wonder Prince Sebastian never brought you to court."

Briar's eyes opened slightly wider in a study of surprise. "His highness simply enjoys my music on occasion and conversation about such even more rarely. He would have no reason to bring me to court."

"Your face alone would be reason enough." Malachi returned. "But if you have no liking for court then perhaps 'tis best he has turned his attentions elsewhere."

"Indeed." Briar replied in a tone that could be interpreted several ways and an indifferent expression on her face.

"Though I must grant," the malicious bard continued, "he hasn't favored any of his current ladies as long as he did you. Escorting ladies to various social events. A night spent with them, here and there and then he seems to lose interest when he leaves them sleeping at dawn. Perhaps you've spoiled him for all others." He suggested slyly his black eyes gleaming.

"Since he has never spent a night in my company, I don't see how it could be so." Briar returned sweetly. "His attentions were only for my music."

"Ah, well then we will all be privileged to hear what the prince favors so greatly." Malachi observed. "I believe that they are calling your name."

"So they are." She smiled as she left while her heart trembled within her. She didn't know if she was angrier with Sebastian for exposing her to such speculation, with herself for letting it matter what people thought, or with Malachi for telling her such stories. All three she decided impartially as she climbed the steps to the stage.

The first part of the contest was purely instrumental music and she lifted her flute to her lips thankful that she'd had so much practice in improvising music according to her mood. The sweet notes soared over the heads of the spectators and contestants alike in a plaintive beautiful call.

* * *

><p>Sebastian was waiting for Briar in her room when she returned. Sick with the thought that she hadn't done well Briar merely looked at him when she entered.<p>

"Are you all right?" Sebastian asked in concern. "You look upset."

Briar shrugged carelessly. "I'm fine. I've never been in competition before."

Sebastian nodded. "I'm sure it can be unnerving." He rose from his seat on Dragon's bed and took her hand, kissing the back of it in a courtly salute.

Briar snatched her hand away in ill temper and scowled. "And how are you? Getting enough sleep?" She asked pettishly.

Sebastian sighed. "That's what I came to talk with you about Briar." He looked at her. "As a member of the royal family, who is officially unattached, I am expected to escort members of the nobility, members of the court, to social functions. It is one of my duties. I have resumed those duties since my family returned to the city in an attempt to keep my enemies from learning how important you are to me. Even if they believe you to be a friend, they might try to hurt you, to get to me."

"So that is why you are squiring those women about?" Briar inquired slowly. "To protect me?"

Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief that she seemed to understand. "Yes. I discussed it with Raden, and we came up with a plan." He explained what Raden had suggested and how it was being implemented. Briar listened silently, her green eyes almost black and unreadable. "Since I have no intention of bedding some woman I don't give a damn about this seemed the best thing to do." He finished.

"Well you certainly seem to have covered all your weak points." Briar said quietly. "You've done a thorough job of convincing everyone that your interest in me is strictly musical. What I heard today reinforces the rumor that you are no longer interested in me personally."

Sebastian looked at her and heard the wooden tone of her voice and knew something wasn't quite right. "I only want to protect you Briar. I'd never forgive myself if you were hurt because of me." He crouched down in front of her, where she sat on her bed and grasped her hands. "I want you safe, and this is the only way I know to keep you so."

Briar summoned up a smile and nodded. "I know Sebastian. And I understand. From now on when I hear the rumors I'll just smile and laugh and tell folks as I did today that you have only ever been interested in my music. Say something often enough and folk believe." Inwardly she wondered how long it would be before the impression Sebastian was so carefully giving became the truth and he was no longer interested in friendship with her. Noblewomen made a career of appearing dazzling, witty, and charming. How long would it be before Sebastian found one of them more enticing to be with than her own, common, company?

Sebastian stared up at her and he knew something was wrong. Her eyes were nearly black with some emotion or thought. But until she told him what was bothering her he could do nothing about it. "I'm going to be working a great deal in the coming months. Raden believes there is something going on that needs my particular touch. I will try to visit you as often as I can Briar Rose." He lifted a hand to her cheek and felt how cold her skin was. "As often as I can." He repeated. Rising, he left soundlessly for the roof and the route across the rooftops that he habitually employed to reach her inn secretly and return from whence he came.

* * *

><p>Briar arrived at The Rose along with dozens of other bards the next day to see the results of the first part of the contest. To her delight her name was read as one of the semi finalists. So, she heard dismally, was Malachi's. The bards also learned that the next part of the contest was to be held in a month's time. This would give the bards ample time to come up with new material for the second part, which was to be an original composition of a ballad.<p>

Briar shrugged resolutely and began the walk back to The Lark In the Morning. She had no doubt she could write an original ballad in a month. The way she felt these days she could write a dozen.

* * *

><p>"I don't like to admit it, but I'm getting worried about him." Lorelei carefully selected a practice blade from the wall and swung it experimentally. "He's not acting right."<p>

"Since when has Sebastian ever acted in a manner you considered 'right' Lorelei?" Her twin retorted as he practiced his sweep with his own long sword.

"I mean worse than usual." She said patiently. "He's not eating enough, at least not at meals with the family. He disappears until all hours of the night, he's paying attention to women as if they were bon-bons and he a lunatic for sweets. And he's not going near Briar at all."

"You think she told him to leave her alone?" Andreas asked soberly, his expression of concentration never wavering.

"No, he'd be more miserable I think." Lorelei said consideringly. "Its as if he's trying to…I don't know…if it were anyone but Sebastian I'd say working himself to death."

Andreas looked at his sister. "Perhaps he is doing that. But in his own rather lunatic fashion." He ran a hand through his sweat spiked hair and grimaced slightly. "What would you like to do?"

Lorelei shrugged. "That's the problem. I don't know what the problem is so I don't know how to solve it. I only can tell that something is wrong."

* * *

><p>Sebastian looked at Raden and nodded wearily. "I can do it. It will take about three days." His concern for his next assignment dismissed he didn't rise immediately as usual. Dark blue eyes closed slightly and then opened again.<p>

"Do you need some time off?" Raden asked in concern. "I know you have other duties and I'd rather not burn you out. I can send someone else."

"No." Sebastian shook his head. "I need to keep busy."

"You've been very much so." Raden returned in his thoughtful voice. "My watcher tells me that you've been disappearing at night."

"Yes." Sebastian nodded. "What of it?"

"The point of having spies on the royal family is to ensure their safety." Raden said with some asperity in his voice. "If you intentionally elude your watcher then the exercise is rather pointless is it not?"

Sebastian sighed. "As we discussed previously, I've been avoiding Briar's company. I told her our plan, about misleading the gossips and our enemies, and I told her I would be working constantly for a while. She knows that I can't come to see her publicly."

"So you've been seeing her privately." Raden surmised.

"Not that she knows of no." Sebastian shook his head.

"Then what are you doing?" His teacher's eyebrows rose curiously.

"I come into her room each night." Sebastian said quietly. "I enter by the window, and sit on the sill, and I watch her sleep." His voice softened and he smiled slightly. "She is so lovely, when she sleeps, so peaceful. It rests me, to watch her sleeping."

"And if someone saw you?" Raden inquired. "What of our carefully laid plans then?"

Sebastian sent him a pained look. "Please, Raden, you of all folk should know that no one will see me unless I wish them to."

Raden raised his hands in apology. "All right all right, but it still is not the wisest of moves."

Sebastian slammed his hands down on Raden's desk. "I do not care for wisdom right now." He said in a low angry voice. "She is in danger so I must avoid her publicly. I cannot speak to her, write to her, I can't hear her voice, her music. Everything that makes my life bearable, is being denied to me. To see her, is more necessary than breathing, so I go to see her. No one will ever know."

Raden regarded him with displeasure. "Your watcher also says that you watch her, in disguise you watch what she does. This is eerily close to stalking." He commented.

"Yes, I do. Its good practice, it isn't done all that often, and in this way, I protect her as much as I am able." Sebastian returned, not bothering to deny it.

Raden shook his head in resignation and sighed. "You can't protect her constantly." He pointed out.

"No, but you can." Sebastian said with a gleam in his eye.

"I beg your pardon?" Raden looked at him as if the prince had lost his reason.

"You have a spy on me, for all the good it does you. I don't need one. Set him on Briar. Protect her for me. It will do me more good than a weeks worth of sleep." Sebastian said fervently. "With as much as I'm working I can't watch her as often as I'd like. Your spy can do it for me."

"Spying on the royal family is something of a reward for exceptional service. It's an honor." Raden protested slightly.

Sebastian grinned. "Tell your spy that Briar will be a member of my family if I have anything to say about it." Raden just looked at him. "Come now Raden, surely you are aware of my family predilection for getting our way. Especially when it matters so much to us? My father married my mother didn't he? Before her heritage and suitability were known?"

Raden nodded. "I'll do as you suggest." He agreed. "Do your parents know of your intentions?"

Sebastian shrugged. "If they don't then old age is making their brains soft." He grinned, the first genuine smile to touch his lips in a fortnight.

Raden rolled his eyes. "Somehow I doubt that has occurred." He said dryly.

* * *

><p>Briar sat on her bed, her back against the wall busily scribbling in the book Sebastian had given her. She had only a little over two weeks until the next part of the contest and she still wasn't satisfied with her efforts for an original song.<p>

"Let me see Briar." Dragon said in his rasping voice. He regarded her from his place at the small table with his oddly compelling gaze. "You can't be objective about what you've written anymore, you've worked at it too long."

With a sigh Briar uncurled her legs and leaned over to hand him the book. Dragon frowned over her scribbles for a few minutes until he deciphered her arrows and musical instructions. "It is to be sung accapella?" He asked quietly.

"I hadn't decided." She admitted nervously. "I'm still not sure its good enough."

Dragon looked at her. "Briar, it's one of the best you've written yet. But…"

"But?" Briar asked hopelessly.

Dragon shot a glance at the door and said quickly as he shut the book. "Don't show it to Sebastian."

"Why not?" Briar asked as a knock sounded on their door.

"He won't know how you mean it." Dragon told her as he rose to open the door.

"I don't-" Briar began but cut her words off as she saw Sebastian standing in the doorway.

"Well met." Dragon said dryly as he tugged a tunic on over his shirt. "Sebastian." He nodded inviting the prince in.

Briar snatched at a quilt, covering her bare legs as Sebastian entered the room, his sapphire eyes gleaming appreciatively at the sight of so much of Briar's skin. "Dragon." He shot the other man a grin and leaned against the table looking at Briar's pink face with a wicked smile. Dragon rolled his eyes and left the room.

"Hello Sebastian." Briar said with an edge to her voice. "Are you satisfied?" She snapped as he kept glancing down at her legs, now completely covered by a quilt.

"Hardly." He growled the word out. "But then you could stand bare as the day you were born before me and I would not be satisfied if you had no desire for me, and no wish for me to touch you." The golden prince made a slashing movement with his hand and for a moment utter frustration and longing twisted his face into something beautiful and terrifying to Briar. Shuddering he pushed his hands through his curly hair and visibly regained control of himself. "I apologize." He said in a quieter tone. "You do not deserve such abuse."

"I'm—" Briar began and was cut off as he directed a furious look at her. "All right I won't say it." She shrugged. "I don't know what you mean when you speak of desire Sebastian. I am…" She looked down and mumbled something that the young man couldn't hear but could guess at.

"You're an innocent." Sebastian said it for her. "I'm aware of the fact that young girls don't feel desire as intensely as young men. It is part of their bodies defense against physical love before they are ready for it." He muttered something under his breath that drew Briar's gaze to him sharply.

"You want to what?" She asked slightly louder than she had intended so shocked was she.

Sebastian looked straight into her eyes and repeated his words. "I'd love to awaken you. To give you pleasure until your body is wracked with it and your lovely voice is wordless with delight." His eyes were so hot that Briar felt her face flushing in reaction and she shivered. The habitual lazy drawl of his voice lost none of its sensuality as he spoke with such intensity. "That would satisfy me. To awaken you to love."

Briar shuddered and her mouth fell open in amazement. Her dark green eyes were like the bottom of a forest well, huge and deep with surprise. "But…I… I couldn't…"

He looked at her and smiled, shaking his head slowly. "I never said I would take your virginity. Some of your innocence yes…but I would leave you whole."

Briar stared at him in shock and couldn't speak. She was trembling, Sebastian saw, with fear or cold or desire, he couldn't be sure. But if her eyes were dark with desire and her skin flushed with it, fear also shimmered in those depths. The realization was like a wave from the icy waterfall. He couldn't feel shame, or regret that he had told her what he wanted, but he wanted to protect her from all the dark shadows of the world, even the desires that smoldered within himself.

Slowly he moved towards her and as her head jerked in a slight surprised flinch it felt as if he'd been struck. "No, Briar, I won't. It's all right." He said soothingly. Sitting down next to her he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and tucking her quilt about her gathering her up against him. Resting his head on top of hers he sighed. "I never would, unless you wished it." He said softly. "Never, my black rose, never would I take advantage of your innocence." His hands rubbed her shoulders gently and he felt something so unfamiliar rise in him. Contentment. Never had he felt so content in his life as when he was simply holding this fragile strong girl. This was the closest she'd ever allowed him. He suddenly understood his father's need to cradle his wife in his lap so very often.

Sebastian rubbed his cheek against her midnight silky hair and breathed in her scent. He didn't know how long he sat holding her and he remained there, cradling her against him even as he heard Dragon's familiar step in the hall. When the warrior mage opened the door Sebastian simply looked up at the scarred man and smiled slightly. Rubbing his cheek against Briar's hair one last time he whispered softly. "My time in paradise is over it seems. Your brother is here my Rose."

Briar sighed and snuggled into him even more fully for a moment and then slowly straightened up. Huge dark eyes stared into bright blue ones and Sebastian smiled down at her. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head he rose from his seat and took a deep breath. He carefully tugged his clothing into place and with one last glance at Briar hurried from the room.

Dragon looked at Briar and said nothing, but then he didn't need to speak. His eyes said volumes.

Briar shrugged. "He said something that shocked me so much he felt bad. So he was trying to make me feel better."

"What did he say?" Dragon asked curiously. Briar blushed fiery red and mumbled. "What?" Dragon asked not understanding her.

"He said he wanted to awaken me." Briar spoke more clearly and then glared at Dragon daring him to make something of it.

Dragon sat down heavily and stared at his adopted sister. "He said what?"

"I'm not going to repeat it again." Briar warned him. Huffily she rose and took her book off of the table. "I have to practice."

Dragon nodded absently. "You do that."

* * *

><p>A few days later as Briar was exiting one of the city's larger music shops she bumped into an annoyingly familiar face. She supposed that she couldn't be truly surprised to see him since all bards sooner or later needed new strings or other supplies for their instruments. "Malachi." She nodded as she stepped out of the doorway to let him pass.<p>

"Ah, the lovely Black Rose." The dark man made an elaborate bow. "How is the day finding you? Better I'm sure, now that those rumors of the reason for the prince's interest in you have been laid to rest?"

"I beg your pardon?" Briar returned coldly. "I was unaware of any rumors."

"Ah…well, they were mostly flying around court, and might not be of general knowledge in the city." Malachi said in a smooth thoughtful tone. His black eyes gleamed with malicious intent.

"Yes, that would explain the reason for my ignorance." Briar agreed. "I have very little interest in the nobility."

"Its just as well." Malachi agreed with suspicious sympathy. "Therefore those who did believe those idiotic tales of a bet wouldn't be the ones whose opinions mattered to you anyway."

"Precisely." The green eyed bard agreed. "Honestly. Doesn't the court have anything better to do than talk about me?" She asked dryly.

"Well these days the talk is still focused on Prince Sebastian, and therefore the talk of you and the wager is slightly peripheral. But now and then it pops up in conversation." Malachi informed her with a slight smile. "I for one don't see how it could be true. His highness would have more than enough reason to seek out your company simply for your talent and beauty, not merely to satisfy the demands of a wager he made with his…uncle, I think it was?" He broke off as if trying to recall accurately. "The elf he keeps so much company with on his rounds of the various night spots." He said snapping his fingers.

"His uncle, Anakin Moonflower Craulnober?" Briar queried icily.

"Oh, yes that's the one." Malachi nodded in satisfaction.

"Hearing the supposed source of the bet I find it even more difficult to believe." Briar said quietly. "I'm sure you have far too much discernment to give any amount of attention to such foolish rumors." With a slight nod of her head she began to move away. "Good day to you."

Seething she returned to her room at the inn and put quill to parchment.

"_Dear Sebastian,_

_The most disturbingly stupid rumor has come to my ears. Since the source of this information is a fellow bardic competitor I take the words with more than a grain of salt. But I felt you should know if it in case something of a similar nature is imparted to you._

_Someone is spreading the rumor that the only reason you sought out my company to begin with was to win a wager._

_I am of two minds on this. If, as I suspect, this is patently false I am sure you will take pains to correct this faulty impression. On the other hand, I am well aware that you are trying for some reason to distance yourself from me. If you are the one spreading this foolishness about with all the lavishness of manure on a failing garden I can think of very little to explain it._

_If you are trying to break off your friendship with me, through roundaboutation and trickery, I would that you have done with it._

_If this is some malicious prank on the part of another, I ask that you find the source of it and put a stop to it._

_No matter. For all intents and purposes, your aim of distance is achieved. I do not wish to see you until you have dealt with this one way or another. I am tired of deception and guile. Give me truth, or do without my company in public and in private. I cannot deal with a fight on two fronts._

_With affection and sincerity,_

_Briar"_

She closed the parchment with a seal and still fuming went down to the taproom to make arrangements for its delivery. The grim set of her mouth and furious dark eyes forestalled any well intentioned hails in her direction and she retreated back to her room.

Angrily she threw herself down on the bed and growled in her throat. The gall of that malicious son of a misbegotten orc Malachi. Imparting these rumors to her, with all the delight of an evil cook poisoning the soup he planned to serve. And the fact that these rumors could only be heard at the royal court didn't improve her temper. Beyond that one private performance Sebastian had never invited her to court. He had not said in so many words, she admitted honestly, but had she accepted his offer of a suite at the palace he might have thought to bring her to attend the court with him.

Briar flipped over onto her back and sighed. Sitting up she tried to calm down and finally thought things out reasonably. She had been an utter fool. Why had she written such harsh unkind words to him? And to offer such an ultimatum. If Sebastian had spread that rumor himself he had a reason for it. But she had offered him no way out if he had done. Gloomily she looked at the angle of the shadows and shook her head. The innkeeper was in the habit of sending her messages immediately since he knew that she and the prince corresponded. There was no way to take back the words she had written.

The bard sighed and looked at the basket Sebastian had sent her. His gifts had been thoughtful, chosen with the care of someone who wishes the recipient to enjoy them, not simply be impressed with the expense. Opening the bottle she sniffed the perfume and wished he had sent a bottle of the cologne she occasionally scented on his skin. In his embrace a few days before she'd felt warm and safe, the spicy scent of his cologne and skin under his clothing and his hands gently rubbing her back.

Carefully replacing the perfume Briar picked up her book and held it to her chest sighing again even more deeply. If Sebastian stopped speaking with her she didn't know what she'd do.

* * *

><p>Sebastian broke the seal of the letter and eagerly unfolded the page. His eyes scanned the script quickly and then reread it more slowly. A groan of dismay arose in his throat and he bit his tongue to keep from voicing it.<p>

There was nothing he could do. He had to make his enemies believe that he felt nothing for Briar. That his treatment of her was due to whim and wager, and his partiality only temporary and no concern.

His mood was bleak as he mentally reiterated the reasons he'd spread such a rumor and he hoped Briar would reconsider and consent to meet with him privately eventually. He couldn't expect her to enjoy being the target of such maliciousness though and admitted that were the tables turned he would be much less patient.

Grimly he wondered how long it would take before she relented, if at all, and who among the court was whispering these rumors in her ear. He read the letter again and his eyes narrowed as he took in the phrase 'fellow bardic competitor'. There were a finite amount of bards who were entered in the competition and also had invitation to court.

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Black Rose**

* * *

><p>Briar passed a week in misery as she realized that Sebastian had taken her foolish words to heart and did not intend to see her again. She grew a bit thinner as she lost interest in eating and if Dragon saw the tear tracks on her cheeks at night he didn't comment on them.<p>

The quill rested between the pages of her book marking her song for the contest but she read through the words again and shook her head. There was no possible way for her to sing a song of love found now. The way she felt she'd never do it justice.

Taking up her quill and dipping it in the inkpot she set it to the page and the words began to flow from her onto the page. It was so easy to write what she was feeling, the sense of loss and confusion, and wonder. Leaving the book open to let the ink dry she resolved to begin practice immediately the next day. She would have to work very hard to be ready in time for the contest. She had only a week left.

* * *

><p>Sebastian knelt at Briar's bedside and mentally told himself that he should be put to the sword for putting Briar through such pain. The increased fragility of her body and the tears just drying on her face spoke to him eloquently of how hard she was taking this situation.<p>

Unable to help himself he stroked a hand lightly over her hair, fingertips gently brushing her soft cheek. Growing bolder he swept his lips over her forehead and then her cheekbone and finally, the softest caress yet, his mouth brushed over hers. A sigh escaped her in sleep and in the faintest of voices she murmured. "Sebastian, please…"

His heart nearly broke at the pain and longing in her voice even as hope flared hot within him that she missed him and desired his company. "I love you Briar." He did barely more than mouth the words and rose to leave before he lost control and betrayed his presence completely.

As he looked back at her from the window though he noticed the faintest of smiles on her lips and an answering smile tugged at his mouth.

A few minutes after the window shut behind him Dragon's eyes opened and he scowled as he sat up and looked around the room. He's suspected that Sebastian was watching Briar, and he'd just had it confirmed. But why on earth was he keeping his visits a secret from Briar? Dragon shook his head. One way or another he would find out.

* * *

><p>Briar flexed and curled her fingers nervously as she waited her turn to perform. She was trembling she knew, and it wasn't fear of the crowd or the judgment of her performance. She didn't know if Sebastian would attend the performance but the way rumors and news flew through the city, word of her music today would reach him. The tantalizing hope that he would hear of the content of her song today and perhaps understand that it was meant for him, and perhaps he would come to see her again had her nerves more on edge than any amount of stage fright could.<p>

Dragon watched his friend and his gaze roamed over the crowd. Consideringly he returned his eyes to the nondescript man who sat on the steps nearby Briar. The warrior had seen that man before, in the street across from their inn and in various places around the city, all places that Briar visited. As he watched, the man looked up and saw him, and then looked down again. Dragon shifted his position and looked again, and the man was gone.

Sebastian watched from his place by a pillar. The brown dye that darkened his skin and hair lent a muddy tone to his distinctive eyes and his posture was painfully incorrect. But most importantly, he could see Briar and hear her perform, and no one would know it was he. He watched as she shifted her stance slightly and hoped she wasn't nervous about singing before so many people. She was more than capable of such a performance.

He heard her name called and inwardly cheered as a small murmur of anticipation swept through the crowd. Those who were not bards were excited about getting a free performance because of the contest and they seemed especially pleased to be hearing Briar.

Briar walked to the stage and prayed that Sebastian would hear something of her music today. Nodding to the judges and dipping a small curtsey to the crowd she waited for the head of the judges to announce the title of her piece.

"An original piece, lyrics and music composed by The Black Rose, entitled 'Small Consolation'." The man announced loudly and clearly, showing that he too had some small bardic talent.

She ran her fingers over her harp and drew forth a spartan melody. It seemed to resound with longing and made Sebastian's heart ache.

"I told you to go

Fool that I was, I didn't see

How much you meant to me.

Even if I had understood

How could I know?

::

You are everywhere I look

I see you, in every face

In a crowd, I still find a trace

Of your eyes and your smile,

A chance word a stranger spoke

::

I am missing you

How can an innocent heart ache

So terribly? What did you take

From me, to cause such pain?

Are the tales of love really true?

::

How do I say I was wrong?

That all I care for is missing

There's no solace in wishing

Hopelessly. And all I have

To show for this sorrow is a song.

It's small consolation."

::

As her voice died away and the music faded slowly afterward there was absolute silence. The longing of her music had been completely eclipsed by the aching pain in her voice. Briar stood for a moment and regarded the crowd with eyes that seemed black with emotion, and then dipped another curtsey.

As she moved applause erupted like thunder and the shock of the sudden noise nearly made the bard flinch. Her slow sweet smile spread over her face, tinged with sorrow and she moved to leave the stage.

Sebastian stood frozen with the shock of hearing aloud what he had read on her face and then broke from his daze to make his way back home, carefully keeping to his guise until he reached the servants entrance of the palace.

* * *

><p>Briar listened as her name was read for the finalists in the contest. The faintest hint of a smile touched her lips and then was gone. That Malachi's name was also read she noticed but gave the fact no particular attention.<p>

Looking around she saw it was almost sundown. On a whim she made her way to the edge of the city where she could see the fiery reflection of the sunset in the river and the mist of the falls. Perhaps the beauty would enable her to forget the troubles of her heart, at least for a time.

When at last the skies were nearly purple and only the faintest hint of pink glowed on the horizon Briar turned away from the sunset. Making her way back to the inn she failed to note that she was being followed by two men. One of them was the protector which Sebastian had insisted be assigned to his lady. The other was not.

The knife that came slicing down towards her back was avoided by the merest chance. A woman with a hat in extraordinarily bad taste passed the bard and she turned sharply for a second look. The blade ripped at her flowing sleeve and left a stinging line of pain along her arm.

A cry of shock erupted from her throat and she turned drawing her blades as she did so. The dark cloaked man who wielded the knife glared at her from behind a scarf tugged over his face and attacked again. Angrily Briar defended herself and it was obvious from the suddenly widening eyes of the man that he had not been aware of her skill with a blade.

He parried her rapier with his knife and with a skill that made her eyes narrow drew a short sword from his belt. Steel clashed with a loud ring as the two fought. They both heard footsteps running towards them at the same time and Briar grimly wished she could spare a glance to see if it was an ally or another opponent who was arriving. The blade that disarmed her enemy of his knife was held by an average appearing man with thinning brown hair and a grim look in his eye.

The enemy, outnumbered, in a burst of strength pushed past Briar, shoving her aside to stagger and regain her balance after a stunned moment. In the failing light she lost sight of him as he ran down the street and into the safe obscurity of the shadows. Turning to her unexpected ally she thanked him. "That was very well done of you." She said taking a deep breath.

"It was my pleasure Lady." The man bowed lower than her lack of rank required.

"Please allow me to buy you a meal and a drink at least, in thanks." She offered gesturing to the direction of The Lark In the Morning.

"No lady, I thank you, but I must continue on." He shook his head and offered a shy smile. "That you live to make more music for the city is enough. If his Highness enjoys your music then you are extraordinary indeed." He ducked his head and pulled a cap over his sparse locks. "I will escort you to your dwelling though if I may, to ensure your safety."

Briar nodded and smiled her thanks. "It is not very far. And I have had no trouble here ever." She commented as they proceeded at a quick pace. "How did you know that Prince Sebastian likes my music?" She turned to ask as they arrived in the inn's courtyard.

His grin was so wide that Briar could see where one tooth was missing even in the dim light of the inn's torches. "I work in the palace kitchens my lady." He replied. "His Highness is talked of often there, and it's said that after he hears your music he hums your tunes and talks of you for days." With another bow he turned and disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

><p>Dragon had finally had enough. It was one thing for Briar to lose sleep and shed a few tears over Sebastian. It didn't harm her in small amounts and might just help her understand that she loved the prince. But she was losing weight she couldn't afford to lose, crying herself to sleep and now she'd been physically attacked on her way home. After making sure she was resting safely in their room and enlisting the innkeeper's aid in preventing anyone from disturbing her he cast a spell to ward the room from anyone but he or Sebastian entering.<p>

Then Dragon went on the warpath. The jeweled hilt of his father's sword gleamed over his shoulder enticingly. The expression however on his scarred wicked looking face must have given any would be thieves second thoughts for he was not attacked as he walked with long angry strides over the bridge that led to the palace.

He was stopped at the gate however by guards who were not visibly impressed by his wrath or face. They did allow him to enter when he said he brought a message from the Black Rose for Prince Sebastian.

That ruse allowed him entry into the palace itself though several guards check his sword to make sure it was bound by the intricate knots called peace bonds. He was left cooling his heels in an antechamber and when the door opened finally he turned ready to bellow at Sebastian only to find the delicate face of the Princess Lorelei regarding him thoughtfully.

With an effort Dragon kept his voice lowered. "I need to speak to your brother." He ground the words out.

"Well I'm sorry but you can't." Lorelei said simply.

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do, little girl." Dragon growled in his macabre voice. "I've had it up to my eyebrows with your brother and the pain he's inflicting on an innocent girl. And I won't have you running interference for him. He'll come out and listen while I explain why he's going to make sure Briar understands what's happening, on the pain of his pretty face being scarred worse than mine, or I'll blast my way through this lovely assemblage of marble until I find him and then I'll explain things to him."

"How dare you!" Lorelei hissed. "How dare you barge in here on pretext of carrying a message from the girl who's tormenting my brother endlessly, when your only intention is to do bodily injury to him and threaten more of the same."

"How dare you interfere!" Dragon shouted. "If you'd come out into the real world once in a while Your Highness, you might notice that someone tried to kill my sister tonight and it's because of your precious baby brother!"

"Would the two of you mind lowering your voices to a volume decent for evening hours?" A new voice inquired in rich masculine and slightly irritated tones.

The two combatants turned at the sound and their faces were for a moment identical in chagrin.

"Daddy!" Lorelei cried and rushed to embrace her father. "I'm sorry." She said penitently. "But Dragon makes me very angry." She glared at Dragon as if the entire situation was his fault.

Dragon who had bowed automatically, straightened with a glare at Lorelei. "Don't push your luck little girl." He growled. Looking at the king he inclined his head. "I apologize for disturbing you."

Amon looked at his daughter and then at the scarred yet still noble visage of the warrior who stood across from them both. "No one was disturbed." He said mildly, "Yet," An edge of menace crept into his voice. "I would ask that this be resolved though, or postponed until the morning."

"I'm sorry sire." Dragon said in resolute tones. "It will be resolved as soon as I am able to speak with your younger son." His deep raw edged voice was slightly menacing as he spoke of Sebastian.

"Well, this entire incident could have been avoided if someone had told you earlier that Sebastian isn't here." Amon said a trace of amusement threading through his voice. "He disappeared earlier this evening. His mother said he was going off to see someone."

An expression of extreme frustration crossed Dragon's face. "Sweet gods." He muttered. Rolling his eyes towards the heavens as if pleading for patience he sighed.

"May I inquire as to who you are?" Amon's voice hadn't completely lost its edge.

Dragon's mouth jerked in a rueful grin. "My apologies your Majesty." He bowed. "I am brother to the Black Rose. Nwyfan Reisolnt Draco." He slanted a glance at Lorelei. "Most find it easier to say Dragon."

Amon nodded and glanced at his daughter whose expression had frozen into something a bit colder than ice. "Well Dragon, if you wouldn't mind waiting until tomorrow a message will be left for Sebastian that you would like to speak with him."

"I thank you." Dragon nodded at Lorelei and bowed to the king again and turned walking with graceful anger from the room and eventually from the palace.

Amon turned and looked more closely at his daughter, noting the angry snapping of her amber eyes. "Was there something you wanted to tell me Lorelei?" He asked attempting a stern tone and failing utterly as he looked on the daughter he adored shamelessly.

"About Daddy?" She tilted her head in a coquettish manner and smiled up at him.

"About the very angry young man who just left, who seems to address you so familiarly." Amon returned not willing to be teased into forgetting about the incident that had just occurred, at least not yet.

"He is the brother of Sebastian's…" Lorelei paused as she tried to determine a way to phrase Briar's status delicately. "Sebastian's new friend Briar."

"He seemed a tad angrier than someone whose sister is only a 'friend' to Sebastian." Amon said thoughtfully. "And he seems to know you fairly well." He looked at his daughter with a gleam in his eye that made Lorelei shift uneasily.

"Friend is Briar's word for her position not Sebastian's." Lorelei said in a tone of voice that made her father think Lorelei wasn't entirely happy with the lady in question. "I met Dragon," her voice hardened, "when I met Briar."

"That doesn't explain how he knows you well enough to address you by name." Amon's expression led his daughter to think that it wasn't Dragon's familiarity with her name that Amon was annoyed about.

"We've spoken on a couple occasions." Lorelei shrugged carelessly. "Dragon is strange, he seems to get to know people very quickly if he intends to know them at all, otherwise he ignores folk for the most part."

"But he feels free enough with you to storm into a royal palace and make demands?" Amon inquired in a deceptively mild tone.

"No." Lorelei rolled her eyes. "He is just that angry with Sebastian." She frowned slightly. "Though if someone tried to hurt Briar because of Sebastian I don't know that I'd blame him. Normally though he doesn't raise his voice. Nothing seems to really upset him." She looked up at her father. "Did mother say when Sebastian would be back?"

"In a day or two I think." Amon answered the question absently as he studied his daughter. "You don't mind his familiarity?" He asked curiously.

"Dragon's?" Lorelei made a face. "You might as well ask if I mind the roaring of the waterfalls." She said wryly. "Dragon isn't someone you explain or change or reason with, he just is."

"So you know him this well but you didn't know his name until tonight?" Amon deduced shrewdly.

Lorelei's pretty face darkened with irritation. "He only ever offered the name of Dragon." She returned. "He is a good man but at first glance forbidding enough that people simply believe that is his name. And I suppose it is in a way, since Draco is elven for Dragon."

Amon nodded. He wasn't sure he liked the fact that Lorelei knew this man so well and apparently didn't mind his arrogance or lack of formality. He sighed. Sometimes he wasn't sure which position provided more headaches, being a king or being a father. And that reminded him, he'd best apprise Sabine of the latest developments with Sebastian's lady love. Something told him his wife would be extremely interested in the events of the evening.

* * *

><p>Briar groaned as she lay back on her bed. The last part of the contest had been announced two and a half weeks ago. The finalists would have a month to submit two traditional songs to the judges then they would have a week to practice the songs before performing both of them. One of the pieces was to determine how well a bard performed traditional material in the style in which the song was written. The other piece was to see how well the bard adapted the song to his own style. Briar had finally determined after a great deal of discussion and worry, the two songs she would sing.<p>

She covered her face with her hands and shook her head. Her greatest worry was that she would appear maudlin. Thankfully a chance suggestion of Dragon's had kept her from making that mistake.

Sitting up she took her harp from where it stood on the table. Tightening the strings and tuning it carefully a faint smile touched her lips. The only time she reached a measure of peace these days was when she was immersed in her music. Her strong slim fingers moved over the strings and pulled forth one of the two melodies she would perform. As the music concluded a faint sigh escaped her.

* * *

><p>From the hallway someone listened to the music from the shadows. Dark eyes were darker with unreadable emotion as that person remembered an occurrence of a few days before.<p>

Sabine had finally determined that Sebastian was not going to ask his parents for help with the situation he'd found himself in. Reportedly his brother and sisters were worried about him, and with good reason. The queen had gone to Raden and the master of spies had confirmed her suspicions as to what was happening.

From Raden's office, she had proceeded directly to Sebastian's rooms to await her son's arrival. More than five hours later, her patience was rewarded with a sight she would never forget. A grime-darkened hand pushed open the window and her son's face appeared over the ledge.

He was not moving with his customary grace however and nearly fell from his high perch back down the castle wall. Sabine moved quickly and pulled him inside to tumble ignominiously to the floor with a groan of pain.

Kneeling quickly beside him Sabine saw a dark stain spreading over the shoulder of his dusty grey tunic. At that moment Amon entered the room in search of his absent wife. Sabine's eyes jerked up to him and she ordered. "Get a healer, one from the temple of Night." Her tone did not brook any argument and her husband hurried to follow her instruction, his face set with concern.

When he returned it was to see his wife cutting away the tunic his youngest son wore. "Help me get this off and put him up on the bed." She said quietly. As Amon set his son down gently Sebastian's eyes opened and he looked at his parents and uttered a weary curse. "Precisely." Sabine agreed with a hiss in her voice. "You will be pleased to explain this to me after your wound is healed."

The arrival of the cleric prevented any further speech. Efficiently and with little speech the man bathed and then healed the wound. Sabine left for a moment to reward the man for his efforts and returned with a grim smile on her face.

"Now Sebastian." She said coldly. "Your explanation for this…this extremely foolhardy course of action." Amon folded his arms and glared down at his son.

"I could hardly let anyone see me returning to the palace wounded." Sebastian said reasonably, as he carefully pushed himself up to a sitting position. Amon shot a glance at his wife that she could easily read as meaning 'this is your son'.

"And what were you doing that you became wounded?" Sabine asked without expression on her face or in her voice. Sebastian felt a twinge of concern go through him realizing that his mother was either extremely hurt or very angry, most likely both.

"Putting paid to the enemy that has been attempting to kill Briar." Sebastian said wearily. "He managed to get in a parting shot with his dagger but he is dead."

"And why has someone been trying to kill Briar?" Sabine queried wanting the entire story not just the quick version of events.

"Because I care for her, in order to hurt me, they will kill her." Her son said in a guilty tone. "Now, I can only wait to be certain there are no others." He leant back and sighed.

"And if there are?" Amon asked in a low voice. His eyes, the same eyes that stared back at him from a masculine version of Sabine's face, were intensely worried for this young man who was so like his wife and so very important to him.

"I have someone watching Briar. He was able to intervene the last time." Sebastian pushed his hands through his hair. "He stays closer than ever now, and Briar is skilled with a blade, and Dragon a capable mage and great warrior." He sounded more as if he were trying to convince himself than his father. "I never expected this you know." He remarked seemingly out of the blue. His parents regarded him curiously. He shrugged with a slight wince. "I knew what I was going to be, and I hadn't fallen in love with anyone, I thought that might be a good thing. But Briar…she took me by surprise and I love her, and now I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her."

His mother smiled sympathetically. "If you must, tell Raden we wish her to be protected as well, if someone is still targeting her." Her husband nodded his support of that plan.

"And make sure no one is putting a target on you Sebastian." His father cautioned. His wife nodded her agreement, seeing the wisdom in Amon's words. Sabine leant down to kiss her son on the cheek, a tender motherly salute, while Amon simply gripped the shoulder than hadn't been injured and gave it a warm squeeze. The two of them left their son to his thoughts.

* * *

><p>Dark eyes focused sharply back on the present as the music began again. From within the room the voice of the harp and of the singer almost seemed as one. The purity of the voice was of the caliber of someone who had dedicated her life to music.<p>

"Something about the way you look at me

As if you're seeing what no one else can see

Something about the light in your eyes

Fills me with wonder and terror and surprise

There's something there.

::

And I can't explain how it makes me feel

So glad but so afraid this isn't real

And I know I sound like a fool

When I look at you I could break all the rules.

Why do I care?

::

You smile like you have a way of knowing

Before I can hide it, my heart is showing

And I think you're someone I can trust

When you're the one I should fear the most.

There's something there.

Oh there's something here."

* * *

><p>Briar looked up from the harp and realized that she'd stopped playing. Sliding her fingers along the strings again she bowed her head. Songs like that one came to her more and more easily. It was as if she was discovering another part of herself. She touched her cheek where Sebastian had kissed her once and wondered if he would ever kiss her again. The harp strings chimed as she thought of him and their friendship. Part of her was afraid to want more from her relationship with Sebastian, since there was always a chance it would come to nothing. Another part of her wanted him and to love him more than anything else. She wasn't sure which was more frightening. Finally she set her harp aside and reached for her flute. As she did her hands froze in midair and she stared at the shadows of her doorway.<p>

A woman stood there. A woman easily her own height with a coronet of pale golden braids around her elegant head. White skin and deep purple eyes somehow gave the impression of amethysts, alabaster and gold. She wore dark grey, the color of granite in suede leathers and a linen shirt in icy violet.

Briar took a gasping breath and watched as the woman moved further out of the shadows and the details of her face became more apparent. The tips of her ears were delicately pointed, and her face was a lovely stern visage, the image of Sebastian's only made feminine, exquisitely female. Briar's face contorted in dismay and she threw herself from the bed to kneel on the floor. "Your Majesty." She breathed.

"Please do not." The low voice seemed to flow like honey spiced with cinnamon. "I have never been able to properly appreciate folk kneeling before me due to the title I bear." She came further into the room and shut the door behind her.

Briar simply looked up at her in amazement at her presence. With a slow smile that made her entire face glow Sabine moved towards the shocked girl and helped her to rise. When she was standing the two women were equal in height. A low chuckle burst from Sabine's mouth and quirked her mouth wryly. "I bet you considered yourself a tall woman until you met my son?" She asked.

Briar smiled in spite of herself. "Actually your Majesty, all of my family is taller than I, but for a woman with more elven blood than human, I was considered extremely tall."

Sabine nodded. "So it was with myself." She took a long look at the girl before her and liked what she saw. Taking a seat mostly so Briar would feel free to sit down again she gestured towards the bed inviting the bard to relax. "I came to see you primarily because I wished to determine what sort of a woman my son felt was important enough to risk his life for." Though her tone was subtle her words were direct in a manner she'd learned from her husbands family could be extremely effective if not overused. The result was worth it as Briar's face paled.

"Is Seb-, His Highness all right?" Dark green eyes were wide with shock and the bards mouth trembled.

"Sebastian is fine now." Sabine told her. "I am aware that he has given you permission to bypass titles and rank and address him by name. I urge you to do so with his entire family, including his father and myself." She tilted her head consideringly. "Though I surmise it will take you fully as long to do so as it did for myself." Briar nodded and Sabine smiled. "Sebastian told me about you. Now I would like to hear what is going on from you. I am worried about my son. Since our return to the city he has not been well."

Briar looked at Sebastian's elegant mother and shook her head in amazement. It was so difficult to believe that this woman had been, according to her son, an assassin. Then the bard reconsidered. Most rulers when faced with a problem of this nature would summon the girl in question to the palace and speak with her there, where she would be bound to feel overwhelmed and somewhat out of place. Sebastian's mother instead donned plain clothing and discarded all her trappings of rank to come and visit her son's friend at the friend's temporary home. This was an extremely unusual lady. "I am sorry." Briar spoke after a moment more of contemplation. "I'm not sure what you want to hear from me, or even what you mean."

Sabine's mouth twisted wryly. "It doesn't matter what I wish to hear, I asked for the truth of what is going on. What is between you and my son? Why is he risking his life in dangerous games that he could cheerfully otherwise ignore?"

"Friendship, my lady." Briar returned in a controlled voice. "That is what is between us. I do not know why he risks his life, only that it is his nature to play such games, and I know he has a talent for intrigue. He told me once that his nature was much like yours, my lady." In comparison to her reaction when told Sebastian was hurt, the bard was calm and sat on the edge of her bed with her hands folded neatly in her lap.

"And he was correct." Sabine frowned. "My name is Sabine." She said after a moment. "I would that you please address me by it." Her voice was gentle though her words emerged formally. "You are also correct in saying Sebastian has a talent for intrigue and masks. You appear to have some talent in that area yourself, as a bard no doubt it is useful. But there is more between you and my son than friendship, simple friendship anyway." Deep purple eyes scanned Briars lovely face speculatively.

Briar made a face and shrugged. "I wear the persona of a bard, The Black Rose, like most women wear a favorite piece of jewelry." She touched the pendent at her throat with her fingertips. "People adore The Black Rose, but she is only one aspect of myself. Sebastian…" She paused a moment. "Sebastian was fascinated with my music at first, but unlike the others, he wished to know where the music came from I think. Perhaps that is why he sought out my friendship. But there is nothing more."

Sabine's gaze sharpened and her mouth tightened imperceptibly. "It is a strange sort of nothing that provokes my son into defying his parent's orders and trying to leave Suzail beforetime. It is an extremely odd version of nothing that has him pursuing his enemies with the persistence of a hunting cat whose temper is roused. It is not nothing that causes him to lose sleep or treasure above all other possessions the letters you have written to him."

Briar stared at her queen and shook her head. "I cannot do anything about the way he acts. He has ever overridden my objections to his attentions and interest in me."

"Then you did object at first?" Sabine asked slowly, a gleam in her eyes.

"For all the good it did me." Briar's tone was tinged with exasperation. "He would not listen, he refused to cease writing to me, watching me sing, he intensified his flood of invitations to dine or walk or shop." She flung her hands upward and let them fall. "He insisted on becoming my friend until I enjoyed his friendship and now…" she sighed. "Now, he tells me that in order to protect me, he must stay away. And he told me before he left that he felt more than friendship, that he'd always wanted more. But nothing has happened." Her last words were uttered almost frantically as if she was trying to convince Sabine that she hadn't done anything to further a relationship that the queen could only object to should Sebastian try to make it permanent.

"Why has nothing happened?" Sabine asked gently. "Did you not wish for your friendship with him to continue and deepen?"

"Friendship yes." Briar returned. "But in spite of his assurances I know that I am not the type of person Sebastian should take an interest in. My social rank is nonexistent." She rolled her eyes. "He overrode that objection as well. And I managed to convince myself that all I wanted was his friendship. He keeps telling me he wants more and I keep putting him off. Apparently I don't fool him, since he says I should at least stop lying to myself. But he must finally have decided that I am right for he hasn't even come to visit me secretly to talk lately. Before he would do that, I'd give him a private concert since he couldn't come to the public ones, and we would just talk. It was good to be with him."

"But he hasn't come lately?" Sabine took in all of Briar's words and repeated that phrase hoping Briar would elaborate.

"I…I heard a rumor and I wrote, challenging him with it. Unfortunately after I sent the letter I realized another possibility, but it was too late. He hasn't spoken to me since, so he apparently took me at my word and cut his losses." Briar said quietly.

"Ah, that would most likely be the rumor about the bet?" Sabine inquired delicately. "In your place that would have made me angry too." She shook her head. "Sebastian is usually more subtle, not being able to see you must be making him desperate and thus a bit obvious." She looked at Briar and smiled. "Your brother showed up at the palace one evening after you had been attacked. He left a message for Sebastian, after having a rather loud conversation with Lorelei and meeting my husband. Shortly after that Sebastian was rarely home, and I went to his rooms one night to visit, only I found him wounded and climbing in through the window. He told his father and I that he had an enemy who was trying to kill you, in order to see if he would react. A shot in the dark so to speak."

Briar blinked at the thought that someone was trying to kill her but said nothing in reaction to it. Her gaze never left Sabine as the woman continued to speak.

"He believed that if he stayed away from you, that you would be safer. He refuses to do anything that will endanger you." Sabine said softly. "He says he can only wait and see if there is anyone else involved in the plot, since he is not sure. I believe he intends to stay away from you until then. But have no doubt, he wishes more than anything to see you."

Briar took a deep breath. "And does he expect this to be over soon?" She asked distractedly. "Or will it be half a year or more before he can safely renew his interest in me." Her mouth twisted. "Or will he simply lose interest and begin to pursue in earnest one of the ladies he now only courts for show?"

Sabine glanced at her sharply. "You do him a disservice when you speak thusly and yourself as well." She said with an icy edge to her sultry voice. "I know my son, and he and I are much alike. He will never lose interest in you Briar. He might lose hope though if you do not admit at least to him, that you love him."

"It is not appropriate for me to admit any such thing." Briar said tightly. "If he cannot see that his position demands more then I must bear the burden of that knowledge."

"There was someone else who tried to tell me once that he knew what was appropriate in dealing with royalty." Sabine said in a reminiscent voice. "He didn't know what he was talking about either." She looked at Briar. "He was a bastard too. Like I was considered at the time. He also thought I was just a pretty toy of my husbands."

Briar blinked. "Sebastian's rank-" She began.

"Is not as great as Amon's was when he met me." Sabine interrupted ruthlessly. "My husband, was at the time, the Crown Prince, Heir to the Throne. We both knew he could not marry where he chose." She smiled slightly. "We were wrong. He decided that we were wrong and that he would marry me, regardless of my birth or station or lack thereof." With an elegant shrug, her slim shoulders rose and fell. "He proposed to me before the queen approved, married me before my birth and parentage were completely known, and later on, we discovered that I was not so lowborn as everyone had thought me. But to the one person whose opinion meant the most to me, my birth had never mattered. My profession hadn't mattered either. Nothing mattered to him except that he loved me, and I loved him, and he knew that his country would not suffer with me as its queen."

"I am not you though." Briar said softly. "Sebastian told me a bit of all this. You are unique, so very special." Her awe and love for her queen was in her eyes. "It is easy to see why his Majesty insisted on making you his wife. I am nothing compared to you."

"Briar, comparisons are odious." Sabine said in a fervent whisper. "I am nothing compared to you." She smiled at the dumfounded look on the girls face. "My son loves you. And in spite of your words of denial, I know you love him. Nothing else matters." Leaning forward she took Briar's hands in her own. "I don't know the fates in store for the rest of my children, though I have an idea about one or two. But I know where Sebastian is going, what he is going to be. And he needs someone who loves him and trusts him, to stand by his side. He needs you Briar." The queens grasp on the bards hands was gentle but very firm. "I know of your history. I am not without sources of my own. You are strong and wise and you are his friend. That is what is important. Not your birth, or rank or who your parents are. Who you are."

Briar's hands trembled in Sabine's. "I…I don't know if what I am will be enough." She said softly. "I am not good enough." She looked down at their two sets of hands, strong slim fingers, and delicate skin, alike enough in their elven blood to be sisters. "He hasn't even come to see me secretly lately. He doesn't even know how I've done in the contest." Her words were bewildered and seemingly inconsequential but Sabine nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry." The violet-eyed woman said soothingly. "It will all come out all right."

"How will it?" It was nearly a wail of confusion.

"It's a mystery." Sabine smiled.

**TBC**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Black Rose**

* * *

><p>"<em>Dear Sebastian,<em>

_I had the most shocking visit this afternoon. Your esteemed mother drifted out of the shadows in my doorway and proceeded to turn my world upside down._

_Imagine my surprise when I learned that the chance 'thief' who'd tried to kill me was actually an enemy attempting to shake your composure. I wish you had told me my friend, but I can see why you did not. It is your way to hold onto secrets and to try and protect me, even from worries._

_For the sake of our friendship though, please tell me when troubles such as this burden you. I would gladly share them and lighten the load._

_Please come to see me tonight so that we may talk. Among other things I would offer you an apology for my last letter. It was not well done of me to issue such an unfair ultimatum._

_If you choose we may meet in secret here at the inn. I know you are still trying to keep a distance from me in the public eye._

_Affectionately,_

_Briar"_

Sebastian read the letter again and then shook his head. His mother's interference had probably aided his suit with Briar but the bard's knowledge of the plot against him only made it more difficult to protect her. Now that she knew, Briar would never stand for being kept in the dark, for being kept safe.

The prince sighed as he set quill to parchment. "I still have to try." He muttered to himself.

* * *

><p>"<em>My dearest Briar Rose,<em>

_Tonight when you close your eyes, know that I do not avoid your company out of lack of desire for it, but because of my intense desire to enjoy your presence again._

_I understood when I received the letter regarding the bet, that you were upset and rightfully so. I do not hold your words against you in any way, nor do I expect an apology from you for them. You were right. I only wish I could have warned you before the rumor's onset._

_I cannot come to see you my Briar Rose. I wish to, more than anything in the world, I wish I could. But I love you, and because of my love for you, it is more important to me that you are alive and safe, even if it means that I am never able to see you again._

_I would rather we not meet again, and know you are alive and well than meet with you and suffer the consequences of your death. I could not bear that._

_Your loving,_

_Sebastian"_

Briar groaned as she read the words before her. Sebastian would make her insane yet. And the most annoying part of it was that he had won the argument for the day at least. She would write tomorrow, but for now Sebastian had won. In irritation she flopped onto her bed and turning on her back read his letter again.

Dragon watched as her eyes devoured the words again, and then again, pausing and remaining fixed on one place on the page. A small smile touched his lips. His sister was in love, sooner or later she would admit it. A strange expression crossed his face and he felt himself frowning before he schooled his features. In spite of his resistance, he found himself thinking more and more about Princess Lorelei.

He frowned again and gazed down at his book as if studying. He found Lorelei provoking reactions from him; reactions he hadn't allowed to rise out of control since he'd last been romantically involved with a woman. Even Briar, much as he loved his sister, couldn't rouse his temper as Lorelei did. He scowled down at the handwritten pages. Lorelei was a noblewoman, he could have no interest in her, for there was no future or potential for a future with the girl. And she, in comparison to himself was a child, one more reason to distance himself from her.

* * *

><p>Sebastian looked up as a page entered the room. Lazily his eyes followed the progress of a lady in an extremely low cut gown. Though it was only early afternoon the lady had chosen a gown more appropriate for later in the day and the effect was quite interesting. Her dark black hair and emerald eyes contrasted very well with her white skin and ruby colored gown. Sebastian was giving her a bored version of his evaluating smile when the page appeared at his elbow.<p>

Without any apparent interest he turned to the boy and regarded him with sleepy blue eyes. "You have a message your highness." The boy offered a parchment packet and as Sebastian took it with languid fingers bowed and retreated.

It took every ounce of control Sebastian possessed to tuck the parchment away inside his tunic. Making his way to the lady's side he passed an extremely boring hour listening to her chatter about her interests, fashion, gossip and social position, and flirting in the lazy bored fashion he was known for. After arranging to meet after the evening meal Sebastian excused himself with a kiss on the lady's hand.

It took another hour to work his way around the room in a suitably unenergetic manner but finally Sebastian was able to leave the hall. Once out of the court's eye his languid manner dropped like a stone and he walked quickly towards his rooms.

The door shut behind him and in a habit so ingrained it was almost instinct Sebastian locked it and quickly checked his rooms for any sign of intrusion. Once done he pulled the packet out and broke the plain seal.

"_My dear Sebastian,_

_I know it may seem otherwise, but I understand your reasoning. I know you only wish to protect me. If the situation was reversed I might do the same._

_However Sebastian I don't agree that being cut off from you completely is the way to keep me safe. If you cannot see me publicly, I wish to see you in secret. We've managed to accomplish this at other times, surely we can do so again._

_My friend, you know that I have fought for my life. It was only the first time that I had done so, though I knew it would not be the last. But if I must fight for my life, as I know I must, then let me fight for a life worth living. I am finding more and more that a life without you in it, is not one I wish to live._

_In short Sebastian, if you do not come to me, I will come to you at the palace to offer you a private performance. I do not doubt that your esteemed mother will allow me entry, but I do not have your skill at discretion. Surely your aims would be better achieved if you came to me here._

_Affectionately, _

_Briar"_

Sebastian cursed virulently and read the letter again, and then again. After his third time of consuming the words he pushed his hands through his hair and wearily cursed Briar's stubborn nature. But he wouldn't change her even if he could, he acknowledged wryly.

* * *

><p>"<em>My beloved Briar,<em>

_I cannot argue with your reasoning. You will be safer if I come to you. I will meet you tonight in your room. Dragon may remain if he chooses, his presence in the taproom might be noted if he does leave, unless he has made a habit of spending some time there in the evening._

_I might not be able to get away from the court and the appearance of romantic entanglement I am attempting to present until later in the evening._

_Of all the things I long for, which I could hope to attain, I wish I could hear you sing this evening. But if you can have patience with me and the role I am playing I will come to you tonight._

_Your loving,_

_Sebastian"_

Briar looked up from the letter and smiled luminously. "Dragon, he's coming tonight." She whispered.

* * *

><p>Briar waited in the darkness of her room after her performance was done. Dragon had remained in the taproom as he had done for some time now. Hopefully now that clouds were covering the moon and the city was dark, Sebastian would be arriving soon.<p>

Sebastian easily scaled the wall of the inn and over the edge of the roof. Scanning his surroundings he saw no sign that he'd been followed. With his usual caution he crept over the roof to the door that led down into the inn. As he walked softly down the stairs he heard a sound from the roof behind him. Turning he saw a dark figure with a sword hurtling towards him down the stairs.

Sebastian took the last few steps in one leap and pulled his sword ready to meet the attacker. With an oddly muted clash their blades met. The prince smiled grimly to himself and his enemy seemed almost affronted by this. "Why do you smile so, your highness?" He was asked. "Your whore dies tonight and so will you now. Selena smiles on me that you decide to visit on the night she is to die."

"I don't think so." Briar said coldly attacking the dark clad man from the opposite side. "First of all, I'm not his whore." She slashed the man across the side.

"Second of all," Sebastian parried a blow easily. "I don't intend to die tonight."

"And third." Briar's blade and Sebastian's sword both pierced the man's heart as Briar spoke again. "Neither do I." She said softly. Looking at Sebastian she shrugged and answered the silent question in his eyes. "I wasn't playing my harp, I heard the swords."

"And while I doubt anyone else did, you had better go Sebastian." Dragon said as he entered the end of the hallway. "It won't mesh well with the image you're trying to present if you're found here with a dead body and my sister."

Briar sighed and nodded her agreement with Dragon's assessment.

"I know." Sebastian said. "I will go." He sheathed his sword and mindful of Briar's still exposed blades wrapped her in his arms for a moment, pressing his body to hers and breathing in the scent of her hair. "I will come to the final contest." He murmured. "Even if you can't see me." He felt her nod her understanding against his chest and pulled away.

"My prince of shadows." Briar murmured softly. "Prince of Night." Her dark green eyes were luminous in the darkness.

Looking down at her a wicked gleam shone in Sebastian's eyes and he bent his head down to hers, his mouth pressed against hers in a searing hot passionate kiss. The blood roared in Briar's ears and she reeled and nearly fell in shocked desire as he quickly let her go and just as deftly as he'd entered the inn was gone.

Dragon looked at Briar and smiled slightly. He'd never seen her at such a complete loss for words. She was still blinking in confusion.

* * *

><p>Sabine glanced at Amon and leant against the wall with a smile. "I think that we were not the only ones with this idea my love." She said in a low voice. Amon turned to see his other four children walking towards he and Sabine as the two of them stood outside of Sebastian's door. He smiled as he looked at his children.<p>

Andreas and Lorelei walked side by side, the twins leading the four siblings. His son was dressed simply in dark brown breeches and boots and a lighter brown tunic and cream colored shirt beneath it. The earth colored clothing suited his eyes and hair, while still being of fine enough quality that he wasn't mistaken for a peasant. His twin had elected to wear a simple gown of pale yellow with a bodice of amber that just matched her eyes. Like her brother she appeared elegant but not ostentatious.

Amon's eyes widened somewhat as he glimpsed his oldest child. Morgana tended to drift along as if lost in a world only she could see. Her clothing also tended to drift. Currently she was wearing a voluminous sheer violet shift and nothing else, over or under it.

With some concern Amon's gaze shifted to his youngest daughter. Asrai Aelaitha had a tendency to wear either gorgeous outrageous clothing or extremely simple scanty outfits. Her father saw that today she had thankfully chosen something in between the two. Brown hose and ankle boots covered her legs and a deep green tunic fell to her upper thighs. A strapless leather bodice laced around her waist. His youngest looked like a very pretty adventurer.

He glanced at his wife and sighed. Sabine wore her usual attire for visiting the city incognito. Dark grey leathers and a dark purple shirt which he was well aware concealed a great many daggers. He had elected to wear dark brown breeches like his oldest son, but a tunic of dark gold covered his own cream colored shirt. The only sign of his rank was the signet ring he wore. He watched as Sabine gave all of her children the once over to make sure they weren't wearing anything that was obviously from the palace. She grinned and nodded at him and he knew that his children had learned at least that much.

"Uh, Morgana, my dear don't you think you might wish to wear another layer of clothing?" Amon asked hoping she'd agree but not having a great deal of faith that she would.

"Why?" Morgana looked at him with wide eyes.

"Well mostly because everyone can see right through your dress." Amon pointed out in what he thought was a reasonable tone.

"So?" Morgana's expression was completely without guile but it was equally obvious that she didn't see what the problem was.

Amon gave it up for the moment and turned to look at the door. His wife smiled. "Do you wish to simply enter?" She asked. "The contest starts soon."

"Well I'm not going to wait for him to come out." Amon shook his head and pushed the door open. Seeing no sign of his younger son he led his family through the sitting room and into Sebastian's bedroom where they all were able to see the younger prince preparing to leave in his usual manner.

"Sebastian," his father drawled shooting a look at Sabine that was all too familiar. "Why don't you just use the door this time?"

Sebastian blinked and looked at his entire family with an expression so neutral his mother could tell he'd been surprised. "If you insist, but it does lack a certain flamboyance don't you think?" He replied amiably.

"I don't think flamboyance is the proper term you're seeking." Sabine said quietly from where she stood at her husband's side. "We're all attending the final round of the contest. We suggest that you accompany us."

"Do you think that it's wise?" Sebastian asked his gaze going quickly over his family and taking in their attire. His eyes widened somewhat when they rested on his oldest sister but he held back the comment on the tip of his tongue.

"Far wiser than making a royal hullabaloo about it." Sabine returned. "The citizens of this city are used to us popping up here and there, they would be more shocked if we did not attend, even if we are doing so unofficially. We do not intend to cause a scene."

"And we won't if Morgana will put on another layer of clothing." Amon grumbled audibly.

"I don't see why." Morgana said softly. "And so far you haven't explained it properly to me Poppa."

Amon closed his eyes with a groan. Sabine looked at Sebastian whose expression suggested the urge to escape out the window no matter what his father commanded. Certainly her son's choice of attire, black leathers similar to her own and a dark blue shirt, suggested he possessed the same skills as she. Her sharp eyes detected several daggers beneath his clothing as well.

With a faint sigh she turned and looked at Morgana. The expression on her face brooked no argument. "Morgana, what your father has failed to explain is that you are a very beautiful girl, and you attract attention, especially dressed as you are. We are trying to avoid attracting attention, so if you would put a more opaque shift over the one you are wearing it would be better."

"Oh." Morgana said. "I'll be right back then."

Amon looked at his wife gratefully and sighed. She smiled at him. "You'll never convince her of the niceties of human modesty love," she said softly. "She spends too much time with the elves to comprehend it thoroughly."

Amon simply shook his head and muttered something about never understanding the females in his family. When his daughter returned he shot an agonized glance at his wife as if to say 'I'm afraid to look.' His wife cast a look at her oldest child and then nodded to her husband.

Sebastian just rolled his eyes. "And if I'd gone out the window I might have been there by now." He muttered.

* * *

><p>Briar was standing with the other bards waiting for the judges to announce the first contestant. The bard Malachi was, unfortunately, standing beside her. In a manner that was quite annoying and falsely filled with camaraderie he was telling her of the courts latest rumors and of Sebastian's determined pursuit of a woman whose resemblance to Briar could only be coincidental.<p>

"Malachi, do you mind?" Briar turned finally with some aggravation. "His highness and I are just friends, so whomever he chooses to pursue is none of my concern." She frowned at the saturnine bard coolly.

Dark green eyes went wide as she looked past him and she was suddenly conscious of the whispers that had swept through the crowd like a brushfire. Sebastian stood with his family not four feet away from her. From the carefully bored expression on his face he had heard every word she'd said. She hoped he had heard what Malachi had said to provoke her.

The other bard's eyes gleamed as he took in the royal family and a smile more filled with spite than pleasure spread over his face. "How good of them to attend." He said in a quiet voice that still managed to carry over the group of bards. "They must be wanting to wish me luck, family connections you know." He said in a confiding tone.

Briar simply smiled coldly at him and brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

* * *

><p>Sebastian heard Malachi's insidious murmur though not his words and Briar's cold reply to the bard sliced like a dagger of ice through him. His mother hearing the same looked at him and at the green eyed bard. "Steady Sebastian." Sabine murmured. "I know that man…" Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully and as Malachi spoke again she smiled cruelly.<p>

"My love, do you see that lovely tall girl?" She tilted her head in Briar's direction. At Amon's nod she continued. "And do you see the dark man next to her?" Amon nodded again his expression tightening slightly as he recognized the man. "I think you recognize him yes?" Amon looked down at his wife and his eyes gleamed as he took in her smile. "The young lady is the bard we have come to see." Sabine said in a neutral tone. "She doesn't seem to enjoy his company at all."

Sebastian's face didn't change expression but his voice sounded as if he wished to do violence upon something. "Someone from the court has been feeding Briar rumors about my activities. Someone has been upsetting her and making this entire situation that much more difficult for her. I would dearly love to see it made clear to someone that they are not in favor."

Lorelei looked at Sebastian and then at her sisters and Andreas. "I've never particularly cared for that man. His name reminds me of maliciousness." She said carelessly.

Andreas smiled thoughtfully. "He has an air of spite and arrogant superiority about him."

Asrai Aelaitha studied the bard in question out of the corner of her eye. "Oh, that's the one the maids talk about, they say he pinches and pursues even when he's unwelcome."

Morgana's slow sweet voice was considerate. "I am looking at him. I do not see any kindness in him."

Sabine touched Sebastian's shoulder and turned to Amon again. "I've heard his music. Technically he's excellent, but he has no lasting emotion to his melodies." She shrugged. "You know my opinion on music without feeling."

Amon's mouth quirked in a smile. "I take it you would like me to do something about this upstart who believes he is in favor and seeks to dismiss Sebastian's lady?"

"Oh, nothing too terrible." Sabine said and shot a look at Sebastian who was muttering under his breath.

Amon smiled. "From what I remember of the Crownsilvers, something we would consider insignificant will have a devastating effect." His smile widened to a grin as he looked at Sebastian. "I know just the thing."

Amon with a kiss upon his wife's hand detached himself from his family and walked casually over to the group of bards. Nodding amiably to all of them he bowed slightly to Briar and smiled. "You are The Black Rose?" He asked quietly. At her dumfounded nod and deep curtsey, he shook his head. Taking her hand, he helped her to rise. "It is we who should bow. My son and wife tell me that your talent is unparalleled. I hope we will have the pleasure of your company at Court soon. We have too long been without the music of a true bard." He bowed over her hand and kissed it respectfully. "May Selena smile on you today."

Amon turned to leave and with a look of surprise caught sight of Malachi. "Crownsilver!" He exclaimed in a tone too hearty to be entirely genuine. "I'm surprised to still find you here. I would have thought you returned to the peace and dulcet silence of your family seat in the country by now. Good day to you." He smiled jovially and walked away without even shaking the bard's hand.

Briar stared after the king completely stunned and a hand rose to cover her mouth in shock. "Sweet Lady Silverhair." She breathed. She didn't see Malachi's face turning red with rage and embarrassment.

Amon returned to his family and managed to keep a triumphantly smug smile from his face. "I don't dare turn to see how he took it." He murmured to his wife. "How are they doing?"

Sebastian smiled. "You managed to completely shock Briar, what on earth did you say?" He slanted an amused glance at his father.

"And Crownsilver looks ready to have apoplexy." Sabine murmured with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I merely informed her that the two of you had told me her talent was without equal and that we hoped she would honor us with her presence at court. I said we hadn't had the talents of a true bard there lately and we missed it." Amon said permitting himself a small smile. "Then I just acted surprised to see him and said I'd thought he would be in the quiet of the country."

"No wonder he looks ready to kill Briar." Lorelei murmured from behind Sebastian. Her twin nodded his agreement.

One of the judges appeared and apologized for the delay. Apparently, the mage whose task it was to enhance the acoustics was having a problem and since they were sure the audience would rather suffer a small wait than lack of a performance they had chosen to keep working on it.

Dragon looked at Briar and the bard next to her noting the look of cruelty on the man's face and how Briar suddenly paled. He didn't know what the man had said but his sister simply looked at him even as she regained her color and replied with something that had Malachi raising his hand to her.

Before Dragon, or Sebastian who had also been watching, could react, Malachi struck Briar across the face. The black haired girl's head snapped to the side with the force of the blow but she remained standing. Her fists clenched at her sides but she forbore from striking the other bard. Malachi raised his hand to strike her again and this time as Dragon and Sebastian were pushing their way through the crowd someone else intervened.

The trio of elves who stood on the other side of the group of bards had arrived so quietly that no one had noticed them so busy was the crowd speculating on the royal family's presence. Unlike the royal family, these three were not dressed for discretion. Their clothing was elegantly simplistic, rich and beautiful in color and cut. Emerald green, golden amber and royal blue seemed almost luminous on the three elven forms.

One of the elves held Malachi's wrist in a grip of steel and looked as if he would take pleasure in snapping the bone. His blue eyes shimmered with golden flecks that seemed to break open and shine with his rage. He looked as if he would speak but turned to the other two elves as if not trusting his tongue to coherency so great was his anger.

Finally Dragon and Sebastian reached Briar and the two men stood on either side of her. Dragon carefully examined her face hissing with concern. "Can you sing with this?" He asked softly.

Briar shrugged helplessly, her eyes welling with tears of pain and embarrassment. Her entire jaw ached.

Sebastian looked at Anakin and his eyes beamed his gratitude. "Thank you Anakin." He said fervently. "I can't thank you enough."

The other two elves looked on one of them with amber eyes icy cold with anger and the other with emerald eyes hot with rage. "You," a pause as if searching for an insult rank enough, "you strike a woman?" The query was neutral in wording but in tone, nothing but contempt and disgust was contained in it. "You strike a child whose only fault is returning insult for insult. We heard what you said to her. She was utterly correct in her response. I would have killed you for it. She was more merciful than I." The elven male looked Malachi up and down as if finding him lacking in all redeemable features.

"Elaith." The elven female touched his arm gently. "We do not have first claim on this." She pointed out in a soft tone. "Though it is apparent she is Tel'Quessir in part at least, she has two who are far closer, to speak for her." She smiled then and looked at Malachi. It was not a kind smile. "But I too, would like a chance to exact justice. His heart on my blade would be fitting beginning."

Sebastian smiled at the two elves. "He is the instrument of his own justice." He said quietly. "He doesn't have the talent to win over The Black Rose and so he will lose the contest. That will be terrible enough for him. And it's not as if my parents have any love for his family either."

Dragon glared at Malachi. "It will be justice only if she can perform." He growled in his corpselike voice. "The entire side of her face is swollen from the blow."

Sebastian looked at Briar in shock and if it weren't for his grandfather's lightning reflexes Malachi would have been dead or bleeding his life away on the cobblestones. "You will wish I had killed you today Crownsilver." He hissed out. "Your life will not be worth half a copper when I get through with you." His entire body trembled with rage and his eyes were almost black with it. He looked at Briar and his eyes shone with sorrow. "I'm so sorry Briar. I tried to stop it."

"It's all right." She smiled and winced in pain. "Does my voice sound all right?"

Sebastian considered lying for half a moment and then shook his head. "You sound like your jaw is swollen." He said soberly.

Briar sighed. "Well then someone else will have to win." She shrugged as if she didn't care.

"Oh, surely not." The elven woman shook her head. Her slim fingers gently touched Briar's swollen skin. "I am Shen by the way." She introduced herself as she examined Briar's face. "That is my husband Elaith, he is Sebastian's grandfather." She jerked her head at Anakin. "That scamp is my husband's son."

"We've met." Briar said faintly. Her eyes fell to the pendent of silver that the elf wore. "Dark Lady?" She questioned in an even softer voice.

Shen smiled. "No, simply a follower." She looked at Briar and then at Dragon. "The night is dark." She said simply and seemingly irrelevantly.

"But the moon is bright." The two half elves replied in unison solemnly.

Shen nodded in satisfaction and turned her attention to the task at hand. "I can fix this." She held her hand over Briar's cheek and began to murmur in low sibilant tones that rose and fell in arcane patterns. Her hand glowed slightly and Briar felt the pain begin to ease. In another few minutes it was completely gone. When she said as much to Shen the elf took her hand away. "Too much of that and you'll get a backlash that will do more damage than I healed."

Briar took a deep breath and smiled without feeling any pain. "Thank you Lady." She said fervently.

"Win the contest and show this knave that your talent will be your key to doors closed to him." Shen said with a smile. Taking her husbands arm she nodded to Dragon and looked at Sebastian and Anakin. "I do believe that we should join Sabine and Amon?" She suggested quietly. "Dragon perhaps you would like to remain with the Black Rose to be certain nothing else untoward occurs?"

Dragon nodded and Sebastian reluctantly fell in step with his family.

"Dragon was that-" Briar asked and her brother nodded.

"Yes, it was."

"Sweet Lady." Briar murmured in awe. The First Knight of Twilight was something of a legend among the folk of Sanctuary. Though the Knights had swelled in number everyone still spoke reverently of the first.

Just as Sabine had finished greeting her father the judges all arrived at their small table beside the stage and the first one announced that the contest would begin.

For the benefit of the audience members who didn't know the standards of evaluation the purpose of this third contest was explained and then the first bard called. Somewhat ironically it was Malachi Crownsilver who had been chosen to go first. While the rest of the crowd greeted him with enthusiasm there was a dead silence from where the royal family stood.

The bard performed excellently, as Sabine had observed, technically he was extremely skilled. But the second half of the contest, his interpretation of a traditional song, seemed lacking and one of the judges was caught frowning.

One by one other bards performed, all of whom were greeted with polite applause and rewarded with enthusiastic clapping at the end of their music.

Briar was the fifth to be called and she climbed the stage and curtseyed gravely to the audience. The first song, was to be sung in the classic traditional style in which the song had been written. With a smile she plucked the harp strings of her first piece. A song of childhood 'the Rainbow Connection', and somehow, even from the beautiful woman, so obviously an adult, a child's wonder and hope was conveyed through the words and music.

Both of her pieces were taken from a popular childrens tale, sung along with the story by bards for centuries. The second song though, traditionally sung wistfully and with uncertain hope in what was possible and what was not, changed radically in Briar's hands.

Instead, her voice seemed filled with promise, and belief in a future to come, and her hope was that of a woman who knew exactly what her heart desired.

"This looks familiar, vaguely familiar,

Almost unreal yet, it's too soon to feel yet

Close to my soul, and yet so far away.

I'm going to go back there someday.

::

Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls.

Is that a song there, and do I belong there?

I've never been there, but I know the way.

I'm going to go back there someday.

::

Come and go with me, its more fun to share

We'll both be completely at home in midair.

We're flying not walking, on featherless wings.

We can hold onto love, like invisible strings.

::

There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.

Part heaven, part space, or have I found my place?

You can just visit, but I plan to stay.

I'm going to go back there someday.

I'm going to go back there someday…"

::

The music from the harp died a second after her voice and she smiled gently down at Sebastian. "I thank you." She said softly. With a deep curtsey she left the stage.

Taking her cloak from Dragon and pulling it around her Briar looked around. "Why is everyone staying?" She asked him. "The winner isn't usually announced until the next day." Dragon shrugged his ignorance.

"One moment please." The first judge shouted. "Please indulge us for one more minute." He implored the crowd to wait.

Sabine turned to her husband and Sebastian. "Is that gentleman with Briar her brother Dragon?" She asked quietly.

Her brother Anakin grinned at Sebastian who rolled his eyes at his uncle. "Yes Mother, that is definitely Dragon."

Sabine slanted a glance at her second daughter and caught her usually ladylike child frowning in a manner that could be called petulant. She was looking at the half elf Dragon too. "Is he as impressive as he appears?"

Sebastian grinned. "Interesting is about the only word that can accurately describe Dragon." He said lazily. His attention was caught by the judge who was gesticulating wildly onstage.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" He was shouting. "You'll be pleased to know that we have reached a decision." Briar blinked and she reached for Dragon's hand, her own trembling in his grasp. The judge continued. "The winner of the prize, a performance a week from tonight at The Rose Theatre, is the lady bard, The Black Rose."

Briar's hand tightened convulsively in Dragon's and she gasped. She hadn't realized that she was holding her breath until the judge said her name.

**TBC**

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: The song Briar sang for the contest is from the original Muppet Movie. I've always loved it and thought with the proper inflection it was the perfect love song.<em>


	10. Chapter 10

**The Black Rose**

* * *

><p>The window slid open and a dark form climbed over the ledge. Silently the figure knelt by Briar's bed and the faintest of sighs emerged from his lips. That was enough for Dragon. Soundlessly the warrior arose from his bed and grabbed the figure by the scruff of the neck. Just as quietly the scarred man dragged his victim into the hall and held him up against the wall. "Sebastian, what in the name of Seven Mad Gods do you think you are doing?"<p>

"I'm visiting her." Sebastian muttered in strangled tones from his position of being held several inches over Dragon's head.

"Why don't you visit when she's awake?" Dragon hissed. "Or in public, now that would be even better."

"Because I can't be completely sure that she's safe yet." Sebastian hissed. "I took her out in public once this week, but I don't want to be too particular with my attentions until I'm sure she's safe from any enemy I have."

"Sebastian, you are your own worst enemy." Dragon pulled the younger man down and glared at him. "Don't you understand that if you make it clear that she's important enough to you to protect that no one will dare to touch her?" He let go of the prince with a gesture of annoyance. "Or is this all just an elaborate charade? Now go in there and wake her up and give her a kiss goodnight so that at least she understands that you still care about her."

"I can't." Sebastian said in a low voice.

"Why NOT?" Dragon bit the words off.

"Dragon, she's lying in bed with only a shift and a quilt covering her. She's sleepy and tousled and quite frankly, she looks so beautiful and sensual, I can't touch her for fear of losing control." Sebastian hissed back at him. "I love her, the last thing I want to do is hurt her, and I'm sorry that my absence gives her pain. But if I spoke with her now, I would kiss her, I'd want to touch her, and I could make her want me Dragon. And that isn't what she needs right now."

Dragon sighed. "All right, I can see your point." He pushed a hand through his hair. "And believe it or not I can sympathize."

"Because you're in love with my sister?" Sebastian asked astutely. "Is that why you lie awake at night and hear me entering?"

Dragon turned and glared at Sebastian. "What I feel for your sister is nothing that should concern you or your family."

"The fact that you feel anything for her gives me concern for you Dragon, not for her or my family." Sebastian said quietly. "I have a great deal of liking and respect for you."

"That's appreciated Sebastian." Dragon growled. "But since my emotions regarding your sister tend along the lines of murderous rage I think you can cease worrying."

"Murderous rage?" Sebastian repeated musingly. "Sounds like the typical reaction of someone Lorelei's gotten close to. Selena smile on you." He turned and melted into the shadows. If Dragon hadn't seen him go he would have thought the prince had disappeared.

* * *

><p>Briar put her quill to the parchment with trembling hands. And she couldn't write. She'd seen Sebastian once in the past week and he'd spoken so little simply holding her hand and gazing at her. He'd told her that he was very proud of her, that it was an honor to know her. And he'd left her at the door to her room with no more than kiss across her knuckles. And he'd simply whispered that he was sorry.<p>

Dragon's hand on her shoulder jerked her from her thoughts. "Briar, did you know he sneaks into this room each night to watch you sleeping?" The warrior asked. "Did you know that he doesn't trust himself to touch you too much because he's afraid he will lose control and try to seduce you?"

"Why doesn't he tell me these things?" Briar looked up at her brother.

Dragon sat down across from her and gently took the quill from her hands. "Briar, when a man is in love, all he wants to do is protect the woman he loves from all the harsh aspects of life. And one of those aspects from an innocent girls perception, is the desire a man has for a woman. It is a heavy burden to know how much you are desired when you aren't ready to be a recipient of that desire. Sebastian is, I believe, trying to keep that burden from you, but in doing so he doesn't trust himself to be alone with you."

"Why didn't he tell me?" Briar asked.

"He told you something of it once, didn't he?" Dragon asked. "And he shocked you?"

Briar nodded. "He said he was sorry, that he wouldn't ever do something that I didn't want."

Dragon smiled. "Briar, when a man is as experienced with women as Sebastian is rumored to be, he tends to learn ways that women like to be touched. He learns how to seduce them. And something tells me that Sebastian is fairly expert." Dragon gently stroked his knuckles over Briar's cheek. "He knows that if he wanted you, that he could seduce you Briar, but he doesn't want to do anything you are not ready for. He loves you. But he doesn't trust himself. And quite frankly now that I know his reasons I have nothing but respect for the man. He cares more for you than for his own needs."

Briar looked at Dragon shrewdly. "I think I understand." She said slowly. "That is why you stay away from his sister Lorelei too isn't it?" She asked. "I saw how you looked at her. You're in love with her Dragon, and you think you're not good for her, so you stay away."

"Gods!" Dragon swore. "Am I that bloody transparent?"

"Only to the people who care about you." Briar smiled. "I won't mention it again since it bothers you. I only wish I could help."

Dragon kissed her cheek. "Thank you heart sister. Now write your letter." He strode from the room.

* * *

><p>"<em>My dearest Sebastian,<em>

_I know that this past week has not been easy for either of us. I understand that you are most certainly still concerned about a potential enemy at court and that this is why you have stayed away from me._

_I also am aware that I have not made this any easier on you. I haven't made my feelings clear, nor truly given you any encouragement._

_I'm sorry, I can only site cowardice as my reason, though it is no excuse._

_Please come to the Rose Theatre tomorrow night. I promise that once the performance is done, my feelings will be more than clear to you._

_Thank you Sebastian, from the depths of my heart._

_Yours affectionately,_

_Briar"_

* * *

><p>The proprietor of the Rose Theatre was thrilled. The house was packed, all of the ambassadors from various nations had chosen to attend, everyone who was anyone had chosen to attend. Best of all, the entire royal family was seated in their box. Not only that, but the queen's father, a member of the elven nobility, had condescended to join them bringing with him his wife and his son.<p>

He had arranged for a small orchestra to play and lull the audience into a receptive mood until The Black Rose was ready to perform.

She had arrived and was preparing herself for the performance with all the professionalism of one who had been treading the boards for years. And his one fear, that his sole performer of the evening would develop a crippling case of stage fright, showed thus far, no signs of becoming reality.

It was time.

* * *

><p>The proprietor was thrilled. Things couldn't be going better. The Black Rose was the quintessence of a bard. She gave quiet introductions to her music, which made the audience feel personally involved. She spoke to her audience as if they were personal friends. Her music was a delightful blend of the lively and the solemn. She was exquisite in looks, manner and talent.<p>

Even the gown she had chosen to wear was perfect. Dramatic in its lines it alternately flowed and clung to her figure and the color. Well the color was that of a rose, a deep crimson rose. Around her neck hung the pendent she was never without and matching earrings hung from her ears. Her hair had been drawn back from her face and flowed down her back from the crown of her head.

The proprietor was quite convinced that purely for professional and monetary reasons he was in love.

And then it was almost over. Her last song was to be introduced.

"My friends," Briar's sweet pure voice soared out over the audience again. "This is to be the last song of the night." A roar of disappointment erupted from the crowd and Briar smiled sympathetically. "I know what you mean, it's such a magical night, I don't know if I want it to end either." A chorus of agreement sounded from the audience. "Unfortunately, my throat reminds me that I am mortal, and I am constrained by mortal limits. So the evening, like all good things, must end." A grumble of disappointment rose and then subsided.

Briar walked towards the end of the stage, opposite of the royal families box so she could look up at Sebastian and still appear to be looking out over the audience. "This song is not an original my friends. I only wish I could claim it as my own. But it means a great deal to me, named as I am so closely to its title, and it being twin to the name of this great theatre." She paused and ran her fingers over her harp testing its sweetness. "And unlike all of the other songs of the evening, I would like to dedicate this one. This is for someone who is very special to me. I hope he understands how important he is to me, and how vital he is to my life. This is for someone who finally made me believe that such a thing as love exists. Who finally made me see that it blooms in my own heart and no matter the season or circumstance it will never die." She took a deep breath. "Ladies and gentlemen, this last song, is for the man I love with all my heart. It is 'The Rose'."

Her eyes stared up at Sebastian's and her voice soared over the crowd as if she hoped it could touch him. "Some say love…"

* * *

><p>The music ended, her voice throbbed on the last note and drifted away and she lifted her hand from the harp in a gesture of exquisite longing and love. And with a shimmer of moonlight and dust, The Black Rose disappeared from the stage.<p>

* * *

><p>Briar stood in the shadows and watched as the audience finally left the theatre. Sebastian and his family were still in their box and if they didn't leave soon she would become visible again while they were here. Even as she thought of that possibility, she saw that she was again casting a shadow.<p>

As she looked up again she saw Sebastian, his mother, and the three elves looking straight at her. Sebastian smiled and his expression was so joyous that Briar felt her heart break a bit. The prince didn't have the patience to find the stairs and the hall that led backstage. He swung over the edge of the box and grabbed the thick curtain at the edge of the stage. Sliding down it, he hurried over the boards and rushed up to her.

His gaze was intent but his hands were gentle as he drew the hood of her cloak off of her head and his fingers stroked the delicate skin of her cheek. "I love you Rosaleen Dhu." He murmured.

"I love you Sebastian. My prince of shadows." She whispered in return. With delicious helplessness she watched his mouth lower to hers until her eyelashes fanned over her cheeks and his lips gently pressed to her own.

Sabine turned with a grin to her husband. "Somehow I think we can leave without Sebastian. He's going to be a while."

Amon looked at her and touched her cheek gently. "I remember how he feels." Tugging her hand he pulled her tenderly into his arms. "I remember quite well."

* * *

><p>Briar awoke the next day to a knock on her door and sat up in surprise. Sebastian had left her at her door the night before with an impassioned kiss.<p>

Their night had been spent looking over the falls and talking. Her prince had been somewhat dismayed to learn that simply because Briar admitted she loved him, did not mean she was ready to surrender her body to him, or as he had put it hotly, 'welcome me into your bed'.

In the end, he had understood her reasoning, but he had extracted a promise from her that he not be banned from touching her completely. He made quite clear that he had every intention of trying to seduce her into his bed, but he also had been very firm in that he wanted her willing. His words came back to her and she smiled.

"I know you feel you aren't ready Briar, and that you're afraid, and I actually do understand that. I simply want to be able to touch you, to help you become accustomed to the feeling of my touch. I want to seduce you my Briar Rose, but not against your will. Seduce is such a strong word. I want to persuade you into wishing to be in my bed." He had smiled down at her and brushed his mouth over hers and then his lips over her forehead. "I want you quite badly, but if I seduce you, awaken you, and you don't feel you are ready, if you don't want it as much, then you'll regret our loving afterward and I couldn't bear that."

"I'm sorry Sebastian. I just never thought beyond letting you into my heart." Briar had looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I didn't know how afraid I was until you asked me to come home with you for the night. I will try not to be so afraid."

"Oh Briar." Sebastian cursed himself. "It isn't your fault. Believe it or not, no matter how frustrated I sound right now." He chuckled. "And I admit I sound very frustrated because I am. I understand. Being with you has no meaning if it isn't something you want as much as I do." He wiped away her tears. "I am just so honored that you love me, much as I insisted all along that you did, I had begun to believe that you would never admit it."

"I do." She wrapped her arms around him and burrowed into his embrace. "I do love you Sebastian."

"Then that is enough." Sebastian hugged her fiercely. "And no one had ever try to hurt you again my Briar Rose, or I swear I will give new meaning to the term 'Blood Oath'." He swore grimly.

Briar had looked up at him and smiled so sweetly that Sebastian had groaned and kissed her as if he wanted to devour her. Then panting he had pulled away and said that he had better see her home.

Briar pulled the quilt up to her chin and watched as Dragon answered the door. Sebastian had said before he left that he would send her an invitation to the court this evening and that he would arrive to escort her there in plenty of time.

Dragon eyed the creamy thick envelope and gold seal with raised eyebrows. "Looks like you're moving up in the world." He said with a grin. "Its good to see."

* * *

><p>Sebastian knocked on Briar's door and nervously tugged at his dress tunic. Dragon opened it and grinned at him. "She's just putting on her necklace." He told the prince. "Take good care of her, don't let the sharks take a bite out of my sister."<p>

Sebastian nodded solemnly. "She'll be safe with me, I'm the head shark." Briar came to the door then and he didn't breath for a moment in shock.

She wore a green, but a misty shimmering jade green that precisely matched the combs in her hair, one of his gifts to her. As she drew closer to give him a soft kiss hello he could smell the perfume she wore, the spicy sweet scent of roses, too delicate to be overpowering. The jewelry he'd given her was at her ears and throat and he'd never seen her looking more beautiful.

"My lady." He breathed again finally and offered his arm. With a slow smile she took it and he escorted her out.

* * *

><p>Briar looked at Sebastian nervously and he patted her hand. "Just remember my love; you are here because the royal family invited you, because the King and Queen wish to hear your music. My mother is privately considered a great judge of music and she believes your talent to be exceptional. No matter what sly remarks folks make, no matter what you hear, that is the truth. I would have invited you to give a private performance for them, and to introduce you if my parents hadn't taken things into their own hands, but I wouldn't have inflicted the court upon you until I was certain they would lend their support. My parents are good people but court is about politics and social rank. That is a frighteningly universal fact." He grimaced. "You're safe enough talking to my family and a few others, just don't take anything said here seriously unless they're saying it. Rumors begin and end in that hall and have no resemblance in birth and death."<p>

"And there's an announcement that is a surprise for you." He said quickly as they approached the doors.

Briar looked at him and laughed. "Sweet Lady." She said. "I thought I was here to play music."

"You are love." He smiled. "But this is also a gesture on my parents behalf, to show that you have their favor, that you are important to them. It will help to protect you. If the royal family supports you, not many will try to challenge you. Especially when they see you have no interest in the political game."

"Well that's simple enough." Briar grinned at him. "I love you Sebastian." She said softly.

He took a deep breath and expelled it. His smile was dazzling. "I love you Rosaleen."

The doors were thrown open before them and the herald announced them. "His Highness Prince Sebastian Obarskyr. Prince Sebastian's personal bard, Lady Bard, The Black Rose."

Briar blinked and smiled at Sebastian and he grinned at her. As they walked down the path cleared of courtiers to the dais where the king and queen sat Briar heard someone whisper. "Personal bard, eh? Wasn't that the position Her Majesty occupied before His Majesty married her?" And someone else replied speculatively. "Perhaps Prince Sebastian is following in his fathers footsteps?"

Sebastian patted her hand where it rested on his arm and simply smiled at her.

**Fin**

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: So that's it folks. The story that kicked off my collection of Obarskyr stories. I hope you enjoy them. All the songs Briar sings are original compositions except where noted.<em>


End file.
